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Kanonkop break-in: Victims powerless against crime

A victim of a recent break-in says there’s nothing left to be done to keep themselves safe from crime, following an incident where thieves ransacked and completely looted his family home.

After a break-in two years earlier, he had taken every measure to secure his home and keep his wife and kids safe, but even a state-of-the-art alarm system and vicious dogs can’t keep criminals out.

The resident, who lives in Populier Street in Kanonkop, says that his alarm went off last week Friday at noon, followed by an urgent call from Mid Alarms, saying that a silver Mercedes was parked in his yard.

He immediately commanded them to pursue the vehicle and rushed home to find his house turned upside down.

“Despite an alarm and my vigilant dogs, they broke off the brackets to my gate, as well as the motor, entered my yard with their vehicle and stole just about everything.”

The resident says that the thieves seemed familiar with his home and went straight to his safe.

They could not open the safe but made off with all of his electrical appliances, including speakers, the television set, the remote, watches, sunglasses and telescopes.

He further explained how his one dog, who is the most watchful of them all, was cowering in a corner and would not come to him, suggesting that they must have hurt it.

His domestic worker also informed him that a white bakkie was seen parked outside the property on Tuesday. The domestic worker was too scared to approach the vehicle and it stood outside for more than 10 minutes.

“After the break-in two years ago, I had an alarm installed in the hope that it would deter criminals and make my family feel safer. My wife is pregnant, and with Covid-19 my children sometimes have to stay at home with our domestic worker. You can activate the stay alarm but that won’t stop them. An alarm and dogs doesn’t stop them, surveillance cameras won’t stop them. All that’s left is arming yourself, but if you ever had to fire shots, you’d get arrested. What is left to be done?”

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Sjani Campher

Sjani has been working as a community journalist and photographer at the Middelburg Observer since 2018, during which she has been responsible for the content creation for both digital and print, as well as maintaining the publication's online platforms. She is a member of the Forum for Community Journalists, and focuses on fields including hard news, investigative reporting, human interest, columns and sports.
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