Armed robbery at retirement village

Police spokesperson Lieut Nomsa Sekele said the couple heard a noise in their house at around 1am and, before they could even wake up properly, to investigate, someone was already in their bedroom touching them.

“There were four men, armed with a knife and a firearm,” said Sekele.

One man held the couple at gunpoint, while the rest ransacked their house.

“They made away with jewellery, a video camera, a flat screen TV, bedding and a vacuum cleaner,” said Sekele.

It’s not known how the thugs gained access to the house, as there was no forced entry.

“The 74-year-old man who opened the case said their doors were properly locked when they went to sleep,” Sekele added.

No arrests were made and no injuries have been reported.

Police are investigating.

The Village Walk Retirement Estate’s Ronel van den Berg was not immediately available for comment.

Last year, in November, after break-ins occurred in broad daylight on two consecutive days on the same estate, Jeanny Strauss, of the Village Walk Retirement Estate, said they were extremely concerned, as it was their main concern to provide security to residents.

Strauss said then that they had held meetings with the security company following the incidents.

“We have since established that the stolen items were passed over the wall and we have taken extra security measures to prevent the problem from reoccurring,” she said.

Strauss added that all cars leaving the premises were searched and that they had not had any incidents since those two.

Attacks on the elderly in local retirement villages are, however, continuing.

In March, last year, there were similar complaints at the Norton Park Retirement Village, in which the daughter of a 75-year-old pensioner who lives there said two men threw a brick through her mother’s bedroom window while she was sleeping, on February 26.

After gaining access, the two robbers ransacked the house and fled on foot.

The woman said her grandmother was lucky “not have been harmed physically, but emotionally it has taken a toll on her”.

On the evening of March 13, last year, another pensioner was reported to have been attacked and robbed at Oranjehof Tehuis, a retirement home in Bonaero Park.

According to Reza Patel, Benoni CPF chairman, the elderly woman was beaten with a hammer after three men gained access to her home.

The City Times also reported on a story about a 91-year-old man who was robbed and beaten up at Eden Park Village, in Brentwood Park, in January, last year.