Faced with unimaginable fear, poised presence of mind is the route to self-preservation.
A family of five are reeling from the trauma of a violent Cameron Street armed home invasion. Still adjusting to their new home which they had moved into less than two weeks ago, the victims are now shaken and suspicious of their new surroundings. Occupied by three generations of female members of a family, the four women and one elderly man of the house are angry yet grateful that greater harm was not suffered.
Lillian van Niekerk was sitting quietly alone in her living room when four men burst through her front door at roughly 21:00 on Friday, October 8. The intruders threw the elderly woman to the floor, tied her up and dragged her to her bedroom. Her husband, Robin, had been in the bedroom and the thugs pulled him from the comfort of his bed, beat him to the ground and secured his arms with coat hangers.
Fortunately, Lillian’s granddaughters were not at home, but her daughter who occupies the cottage at the rear of the property was. The intruders then moved in her direction, breaking through the door of the cottage, assaulting her and tying her up before moving her to the main house where she joined her parents. Robin would receive the bulk of the physical abuse and now has cuts and severe bruises on both arms and legs.
In between the thugs loading valuables in the cars, they would extract bank card PIN numbers from their victims at gunpoint. The robbers left the premises with televisions, personal valuables, two motor vehicles, Lillian’s daughter’s bank card, a firearm and house keys. Lillian then freed herself from the coat hanger binds and attempted to make contact with her neighbours.
Throughout the ordeal, Lillian complied to the fullest and in an attempt to mitigate the severity of the assault, took a calm demeanour with her attackers. “I asked him if he had a wife and he said ‘yes’. I asked him if he had children and he said ‘yes’, even while he told me to ‘shut up’,” explained Lillian. This, she believed helped soften the assailant’s attitudes as the man would leave her bank card and just take the cash in her wallet.
A case was opened at Roodepoort Police Station and fortunately, one of the vehicles has been recovered and nobody was seriously injured. The family believe they were being monitored and urged fellow residents to be alert to the dangers in their immediate surroundings. Home invasions are often set up by traceable patterns, and vigilance determines how much is left to rebuild with.
