Police arrest trespassers at Biccard Street house

IN an ongoing tussle between the tenants and ‘the owners’ of the house in Biccard Street, Turffontein, Booysens police arrested trespassers after shots were fired on October 25.

Booysens SAPS communications officer Capt Lorraine van Emmerik confirmed the incident and said a case of trespassing has been opened.

“There was an operation (October 25) where the people who illegally occupied the house were arrested. I can confirm that shots were fired but at this time the investigations are still taking place concerning those shots because we want to establish who fired them. The people who fired those shots fled the scene. There were arrests and a trespassing case has been opened,” she said.

According to the tenants, who wanted to remain anonymous, this debacle started in August where a group of people came to the house and demanded to speak to the owner.

“The house was leased to someone as the owner is away on business in KwaZulu-Natal. We are 15 families here and we always pay rent. Suddenly we had these people who claimed this house was hijacked and demanded to see the title deed. All documents were presented to these people, however, they continued to harass and intimidate us.

“At one point they broke the windows, partially burnt the house, destroyed the wall, stole our belongings and they were violent. The owner provided security guards and they too were threatened by these people. The police were called to quell the situation,” she said.

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