Mr Johan de Lange lives in Del Judor in a lovely home, which has a beautiful garden, which is filled with ‘booby traps.’
On August 22, at approximately 14:00, Johan de Lange came across two African males who had jumped over his garden wall and were busy carrying away one of the metal plates which he uses to cover a concavity in his backyard.
Mr de Lange managed to subdue one of the suspects, whilst the other criminal made a break for it over the wall.
He made sure that the suspect he had captured was in no condition to escape and went inside to fetch his cellphone to call the police. As he re-emerged from his home, after having fetched his cellphone, he saw the second suspect who he had believed to be adequately detained also escaped over his garden wall.
“This is the fourth time in a short period of time that I’ve been robbed of my belongings in my own home,” said Mr de Lange, “I can’t sleep any more because I know that they might return at any moment.”
Mr de Lange’s grandmother’s car window had been shattered by criminals and the car’s contents looted not long before the incident on Wednesday, whilst the car was parked in front of Mr de Lange’s house.
“They’ll steal anything,” said Mr de Lange, “they’ve started taking the putty out of my windows, and are carrying away bricks that I keep in the backyard as well. This isn’t the first metal plate they’ve taken either.”
Mr de Lange showed us around his garden, pointing out the numerous booby traps which were well hidden and would undoubtedly be effective should an unlucky trespasser stumble upon them. “I have to put out booby traps,” lamented Mr de Lange, “I don’t know what more to do to protect myself. I put out these booby traps and sleep with a bat within arms reach for self defence… but how long will it be before the crime escalates? I’ve caught trespassers on my property far too many times. I’ve asked my male cousin to come spend some time here as well in the hope that the extra man in the house might work as a deterrent.”
Mr de Lange’s property is walled all around, though this hasn’t convinced the thieves to search for a different target.
