Children held at gunpoint while robbers ransack home

FOLLOWING the armed robbery of a Bluff home with three children in it, Brighton Beach SAPS urges community members to come forward with information.

On Thursday, 3 September, four men rushed into a home through an unlocked entrance. Inside the house were three children aged six, 15, 19 and a domestic worker. While two men armed with guns watched over them, the other two searched the home for valuables.

The men then forced the domestic worker and three children into a bathroom and fled.

Police believe they were driving a white Volkswagen Polo.

They have information on one of the men and hope residents might be able to identify him. The black man with a dark complexion and black marks in the eye area is about 25-years-old. He is short with a slender build and during the robbery, he was wearing a white, hooded jacket.

Anybody with information on this man should contact Warrant Officer van der Looy on 079-394-1483 or 031-451-8093.

Brighton Beach SAPS communications officer, Captain Louise Le Roux said: “We urge parents to share basic home security guidelines with their children and those in whose care their children have been placed.”

Capt Le Roux offered the following guidelines:

* Don’t challenge any person who has invaded your home.

* Ensure gates and doors are locked when you enter or leave the premises.

* Place a list of emergency telephone numbers in strategic places around the house.

* Don’t investigate any suspicious noises or people in the yard, rather phone for assistance immediately.

* Condition children to provide police with information on the physical address of the home, if someone has been injured and what has happened.