Residents sick and tired of increasing crime wave

BURGERSFORT – Residents in Lions Rock are furious and fed up with repeatedly being targeted by criminals.

Last Wednesday Mr Francois Labuschagne and his wife became part of the statistics for housebreaking, once again.When they arrived home at 16:30 after work, they noticed the dining-room window was broken and the house plundered. The first thing they noticed was that the television was taken and all the cupboards were emptied out.

“It is clear that they knew what they were searching for. They stole everything valuable, including my camera and my wife’s jewellery but clothes and shoes were left lying around. The worst part is that someone out there knows exactly what is going on in my house and where everything is kept,” said Labuschagne.

It is not the first time that they have fallen prey to burglars. The house is surrounded with diamond-mesh fencing, and it seems nearly impossible for someone to enter the yard, especially with their aggresive dog inside, Labuschagne told Steelburger/Lydenburg News.

Just across their home resides Ms Elana Botha. In the past two years her house had been invaded three times. During one incident she found someone standing at their glass sliding door.

When she pointed a pellet gun at him, he just casually walked away. On another occasion Botha caught a culprit in the house. She was alone with her two-year-old son and started screaming, at which the intruder broke the dining-room window, and fled. Intruders have also broken into their garage before. “They stole a chainsaw, a weed eater and my husband’s drill.” She said that she sometimes stands near the palisades at the back of their house facing the mountain and can see people on it. “You can’t leave anything outside at night, it will be missing the next day,” added her husband Michael Botha, as a gas bottle and their outside lounge set were also stolen.

Down the street Mr André Smit also fell victim to this trend. Someone broke into his garage and stole his brand-new generator, compressor and a wheelbarrow. He has since installed cameras inside and outside his yard overlooking the entire street.

“The major problem that we are facing is the mountain across the street. Houses adjoining the mountain are more prone to be targets, but offenders have become so relaxed that they are now targeting houses across the road as well. They keep an eye on us from the mountain and know all our coming and goings.

“I advise people to never put boxes of the expensive goods out with your trash, rather discard it somewhere else or cut it into small pieces. The culprits look through the trash to view your slips and to see what is new in the house,” says Smit.

All of these residents whom this publication spoke to complained about the police’s response time and the follow-up procedures. Some stated that it took the police up to three hours to assist them and then they had to wait weeks for a case number. Even if they received the number, they never heard from the police again.

After numerous attempts to contact them, the newspaper was unable to receive any comment or feedback from the police spokesman with regard to this matter.