THE manager of a shop stood by and did nothing while he witnessed a woman’s handbag being stolen out of her car.
According to the victim, the manager said he had seen the perpetrators steal her handbag and he could even point them out to her.
The 36-year-old Kempton Park CBD resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said on the evening of November 27 she came back to find her car broken into and her handbag stolen after parking it in the street while she went into the shops.
“I was on my way home from work when I stopped in town to buy some meat. It was about 6.10pm when I parked my car next to Barnett’s Furniture Store on Pretoria Road and went into the Meat Spot Butchery next to Kempton Park Taxi Rank,” the woman recalls.
“I took my money and cheque card from my wallet and my iPhone with me and made the mistake of leaving my handbag on the floor on the passenger side, in full view.”
She then locked her car and went inside the shop, where she spent less than five minutes. When she came back, she saw people standing around her car.
“When I reached my car I saw that someone had broken the passenger window and stolen my handbag. The manager from Barnetts came to me and said he saw the people who did it and he knew them.”
The handbag contained her other cell phone, wallet with her savings card and other store cards, her ID book and other items.
According to the woman, the manager even told her to come back the following day around 10am so he could show her the perpetrators because they were always there, all the time.” She immediately phoned the police.
“When the police eventually arrived two hours later, they told me I should go to the police station and asked me why I wasted time waiting for them when I could have just driven myself to the station.”
The victim then drove to the Kempton Park Police Station where a case of theft out of a motor vehicle was opened.
“Police also told me that Pretoria Road was not safe for cars to park. What upsets me is that the police clearly know about the crime but don’t do anything about it. But I guess it’s a lesson learned now but this could happen to someone else tomorrow.
“It confuses me why it’s so easy for people to watch a crime being committed but don’t tell the police about it. It’s not right and something needs to be done.”
