“AT one stage one of the guys held a gun to my two-year-old son’s head and demanded money and weapons.”
These are the chilling words of a De Villiers Street, Van Riebeeck Park resident and father, Rudi Britz, whose family was held captive for one long haunting hour under the hands of aggressive, armed men covered in balaclavas.
“My partner Donovan and I felt so helpless, seeing these people press a gun against our son’s head. And our hands were tied up. I thought for sure they were going to kill us, especially when the one man started kicking furniture and hitting me behind the head with a gun.”
The little boy was left with red marks from where he was grabbed.
At one point, one of the men took out a bullet from his gun, put it in front of Britz’s face and said: “You see, I mean business”.
The four armed men forcefully entered the Britz family’s home on July 31 at about 5.10am as Britz’s father, Johan, was getting ready to leave. Britz, Donovan and their son were still in their bedroom, sleeping peacefully.
“As he was getting out of the gate, the men pulled up behind him, pulled my father out of his car and reversed the car back into the yard,” Britz said.
“The men forced him to open the house and we were woken up to find them pointing their guns at us, standing around our bed.”
What followed is a terrifying encounter the family will never forget.
“They forced us out of bed and tied up Donovan, my dad and I with our cell phone chargers’ cords and made us lie down, facing the floor. They left our son to sit with us.” The victims were kicked in their backs and necks during this time and jewellery were ripped from their necks.
One man was left in charge to look over the tied up family while the other three went through the house, taking all they could find, including electrical appliances, alcohol, laptops, clothing, bedding, jewellery, shoes, perfume and the little boy’s toys.
“Lying there I heard them going from room to room, emptying cupboards, breaking stuff, carrying stuff in our bedding, sheets and blankets out to their car and my dad’s car.”
They also took bank and credit cards, took photos of them and demanded the pin numbers for each card.
After an hour of looting the family home and loading valuables into their car and Johan’s, the men finally left, taking with them Johan’s vehicle.
“After they had left, we immediately pressed the panic button and screamed for help, which our neighbours reacted to. MML Security responded instantly and were there within four minutes. They stayed with us until Norkem Park SAPS arrived.
“We are so grateful for MML’s help and support.”
The family has since gone for counselling but the events of that morning still haunt them.
“We want to warn the community to be careful and look out for these people. They are ruthless and will hurt you. The one man kept on saying that they (the robbers) were in a business and they meant business and that they were there to ‘collect’.”
The attackers were driving a silver VW Polo. One of them, whom Britz described as older looking, had a big build. The other three appeared to be younger, short and thin. All the men were wearing Levi jeans and expensive shoes.
Captain Lesibana Molokomme, spokesman for Norkem Park SAPS, confirmed that a case of house robbery had been opened at the station.
