A warning to Marlands residents

Joy van der Horst, a Marlands resident, had a scare recently and would like to warn the community of what could be happening in their own backyards.

On August 10, at around 7.30pm, van der Horst was home alone when she heard a banging outside.

She walked into the kitchen, where the banging seemed to be coming from, but seeing no one there she switched on the outside light.

To her alarm she saw a person outside, who, despite the sudden light, continued to swear, while kicking at the kitchen security gate and fiddling with the gate’s lock.

Van der Horst opened the door and screamed at the intruder, causing him to run away and climb into a waiting car.

In the morning she tried to get out of her kitchen and found that the lock to the security gate had been completely destroyed.

She immediately called a friend and, upon inspecting the yard, they discovered that the front gate of the property had been kicked in, and the banging she had heard the evening before was the side gate between the garage and the house, being opened with a crowbar.

Blood was found on a nearby step, leading the friends to believe that whoever had done the damage was angry and determined to get into the house.

Van der Horst had left her workshop door and the cottage on her property open, and both her car and that of her daughter had been parked in the garage.

Nothing had been taken from the workshop, garage or cottage.

Van der Horst believes that the would-be burglar had either not discovered the buildings were open or had been too focused on getting into the house.

Van der Horst was amazed that nobody in the area seemed to hear anything, even though it was so early in the evening and that the would-be thief was making no attempt to be silent.

She warns all Marlands residents to stay alert.