Thugs stole my son’s innocence and irreplaceable time away from celebrating his sixth birthday – that was my son’s birthday gift from society.
My husband was the victim of picket pocketing when his wallet, which contained his entire life, was pinched from his bag on May 2 while he was inside PQ at Greenstone Mall.
I don’t blame my husband, PQ nor Greenstone Mall. These were not the parties responsible for ruining my son’s birthday. I hold the criminals responsible.
My husband was looking at clothes when a fat-bellied thug distracted him by, as my husband later explained it, “Acting in such a way as to create suspicion about him and draw the attention away from his accomplice.”
“He kept me busy by asking me the size of clothing items. He dropped the hangers and then shoved shirts into my hands. I actually became irritated with his behaviour. It took no longer than 20 seconds for him to distract me and for his accomplice to get her hands on my wallet,” my husband later said.
The fat-bellied thug’s female accomplice managed to unzip my husband’s pouch and take his wallet – in no more than 20 seconds of distraction.
“I was extremely suspicious of him and he kept me busy while in fact, I should have paid more attention to the woman standing next to me,” my husband later told mall security.
I met up with my husband about 30 minutes later and he was pale, sweating and all he could say was, “My wallet is gone”.
We later learnt the thugs were already at Mall@Reds Shopping Centre in Rooihuiskraal, spending our hard-earned cash by the time my husband realised his wallet had been pinched. Smooth operators indeed.
In the hopes of finding the wallet (although we knew better), we were frantically running from shop to shop, checking CCTV footage and talking to security guards.
My son, without any resistance, allowed his mother to drag him by the arm during this two hour marathon on his sixth birthday.
It was much later when he forced me to stop and said, “Mom, don’t worry. We can leave my birthday party because the ‘badians’ (his own word for criminals) took daddy’s money.”
I know every parent reading this will realise how this broke my heart.
I am not as aggravated by the actual theft as I am about the affect on my son.
My son deserves better than this – he deserves better than his innocence being robbed from him and his birthday being ruined by unknown thugs.
Our children deserve better than this.
How dare you steal away precious hours from his birthday. How dare you?
Sad as it may be to say this, I regard my son as fortunate to not have been affected by crime until now.
My nephew was involved in two hijackings by the age of three.
Since this, my son’s perception of what he previously called “badians” has changed significantly.
“Badians” are now called by their rightful name, criminals.
I can only hope this will not extend to murderer, armed robber or hijacker in the near future. I can only hope he will not be affected by one of these soon.
It is devastating to realise we have come to accept that our children will at some point in their lifetime, realise the full extend and meaning of these words.
Since his birthday, I am confronted with questions like, “Mom, do criminals only steal at night?” “Mom, why do criminals kill people?” The list goes on.
Later that day, we received a call from the manager at Mr Price at Mall@Reds who informed us my husband’s cards, ID book and so forth had been placed inside a plastic bag and dumped in a backpack up for sale on their shelves.
The cash and actual wallet were obviously gone. We also learnt that these two thugs used the same modus operandi inside that shop, as the woman was identified for showing suspicious behaviour while her accomplice dumped that which does not belong to him.
Often an editorial outrage such as mine will be accompanied by tips on how to keep your belongings safe while shopping.
I apologise to our readers for not providing such as the vigilant husband I am married to, a man I have known since childhood and who is familiar with such knowledge (he is, after all, married to a journalist) was also conned by these smooth operators.
I will provide one tip dear readers; the minute history is made with the creation of a pair of automated eyes to watch the back of your head – get it. The minute you become suspicious of a person’s activity, also watch out for his or her accomplices.
