BEREA residents are encouraged to be extra vigilant after two car thefts occurred within two hours on Tuesday morning.
A tearful fourth year, DUT homeotherapy student, told Berea Mail, she had parked her grey Toyota Etios outside the Ritson Clinic on Ritson Road around 8.30am and went in for a practical assessment. “When I got out the car I took my stethoscope and bag and locked and checked my car because I had to park it outside because the security have hassled me about parking it inside the clinic parking. I finished my prac at 9.30am and when I got back, there was no car. I still looked further hoping that I had made a mistake but I remembered specifically parking there,” she explained while reporting the incident at Berea SAPS.
Narusha Govender said she had called campus security but they had failed to assist until a doctor from the clinic walked out, saw her and instructed security to help her. “This is so upsetting and frustrating. I have a parking disc and have paid for parking inside campus but because my car is new and has new licence plates they don’t match the previous number plates so they won’t let me in until I re-register the car,” she said.
After years of commuting with buses and taxis to campus from Phoenix, Govender said she had only just received the car two months ago, as a 21st birthday present from her father. “All my text books worth R3000 that I bought as research for my presentation and all my work for the year was in my car,” she said.
In a second incident, just a few blocks away on Musgrave Road, a Jehovah Witness couple from Chatsworth were doing their weekly visits in the area when they were also victims of car theft.
Vince Pillay told Berea Mail he had parked his grey Toyota Yaris at 9.30am on Musgrave Road, just next to his friend’s vehicle who had joined them. “We had visited friends’ homes in Killburn and Essenwood Roads and were practically across the road from the cars but when we came out at 10.30am the car was gone,” he said.
The disappointed Pillay said he had double checked to ensure his car doors were all locked after hearing of remote jamming in the area, but did not expect that his locked car would be gone.
The vehicle was full of Jehovah Witness reading material as well as Chinese literature and Bibles.
By Tuesday afternoon, Pillay was informed that his vehicle had been recovered in Lamontville.
Lieutenant PN Naidoo, communications officer at Berea SAPS, said despite the two incidents, the incidents of vehicle thefts was stable. “The station normally has one or two reported every now and again. Toyotas are mainly targeted,” he added.
