Alleged burglar goes free despite witness identification
Residents living in Aurora Street are fuming after a suspect was arrested by security for housebreaking, but released by police.
Steiltes resident Louise Munnik said her family were left traumatised when their house was burgled last week. “They stole our brand-new laptop and cellphones.”
Another resident, Yolisa Sabane, stated on social media that the suspect had broken into her house on Thursday at around 01:00. “He took my daughter’s phone and the whole ordeal has traumatised her so much, as she had woken up while he was trying to get to the phone.”
On Saturday afternoon Hi-Tech Security caught the suspect in Aurora Street after he had jumped over fences in Melkweg Street. “They took him to the police station. There were two residents with them at the station to identify the suspect.”
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Munnik stated that the police had allegedly not bothered to profile him or speak to the witnesses. “They just told us that the man was not found with any stolen goods, so they could not charge him and they let him go that afternoon.”
She said later that same night more attempted burglaries happened. “We are sure he came back to finish what he started. One neighbour even fired shots. The security companies all arrived, but police did not even bother to come out.”
Hi-Tech Security’s regional operations manager Callum MacPherson confirmed that the incident had occurred. “Our security officers did take the suspect to the police and they did let him go. There were two people there who could identify him.” He also confirmed that there were more incidents in the same area that night.
Police spokesman Capt Zandile Gwaqa said she was unable to get information about the incident at the time of going to press. “I will request the station commander looks into what happened on that night,” she concluded.
