THE father of a smash-and-grab victim has spoken out about how the violent incident left his daughter traumatised.
Helmut (76) from Springs told EXPRESS how his 29-year-old daughter Gerlinde was the victim of a violent smash-and-grab incident on the night of January 22.
Gerlinde, who works in Dubai, had been in South Africa visiting and staying over at a friend’s place in Birchleigh. On that Sunday, she met another friend at Festival Mall for lunch.
“She left at about 8pm to go back to her friend’s place. Using Kelvin Road, she stopped at the red traffic lights at Builder’s Warehouse on Besembos Street,” Helmut explained.
As she reached into her handbag on the passenger seat to take out the house keys, two men came from either side of the car and threw two large rocks through her windows, one on the driver’s side and the other on the passenger side.
The rock thrown through her driver’s window hit her in the face, injuring her and making her nose bleed.
The robbers stole her handbag, which contained her cellphone and bank cards, before taking her keys and throwing them back at her.
“She drove to her friend’s house traumatised. We also made our way to her as soon as we found out,” said Helmut.
The next day the family went to the police station to report the case. Gerlinde also had to go to the banks and have her cards blocked and replaced and also had to replace her cellphone and ID.
“It was all just such an inconvenience for my daughter, especially after suffering such a traumatising experience. What shocks us the most is how anyone can do something so cruel to another human being.”
This is also not the first one of Helmut’s family to experience such violence. His elder daughter (38) was a victim of a smash-and-grab incident as well in Pretoria.
“We also lived in Kempton for about 20 years and during that time we went through a house robbery,” he said.
“It’s just so sad how innocent people get hurt and are affected by the high crime rate in this country. Such incidents really do cause some sort of damage to the victims, with long-lasting negative after-effects,” the caring father said.
