“These were the same men who robbed me at knifepoint”
Two suspects used the HTS Middelburg grounds as a means of escape after robbing a woman of her phone at about 13:45 today.
The two men can be seen on surveillance video running towards a woman walking down the corner of Frame and Gilfillan Street, snatching her phone and then running in the direction of HTS Middelburg.
The men were then nearly apprehended by BeJay Cornelius from the Dagpatrollie and two HTS workers, Abram Makuwa and Adam Austin, however, they managed to evade capture by splitting up.
One suspect, who was wearing a black shirt, ran to the corridor near the school’s hostel, and the other suspect, who was wearing a white vest and long pants, jumped over the wall by the rugby field.
The suspect with the white vest then jumped into the backyard of a house on Frame Street, continuing to make his way towards Kogel Street by house hopping.
Arthur Hill and BeJay from the Dagpatrollie then searched the street, house by house, finding evidence of the suspect jumping over walls using common garden tools.
Mid Alarms were also present at the scene.
After an hour of scouring through the back gardens of the different homes, the search was called off.
The Middelburg Observer then spoke to the HTS workers who were witnesses to the escapade, shockingly Adam stated that these were the same two men that robbed him at knifepoint a month ago.
@middelburgobserver Robbery! Two men rob a woman of her cell phone on Frame Street #crime #middelburg #southafrica
Adam said, “These were the two guys who stole my phone at the steps of the Samora Machel Street Bridge. One man brandished a knife while stealing my phone.”
Adam then stated that he went to a second-hand phone store the next day, only to find his phone for sale, “I told the owners that it was my phone, and I proved it was mine by entering the password and unlocking it. I still had to pay R500 to get it back.”
It is unclear if the suspects were armed when they made their way through HTS Middelburg.
Astonishingly, when one of the men who stole the phone tried to unlock it, he took pictures of himself with the phone’s camera.
The Middelburg Observer is in possession of these photos.
