AN 88-year-old frail care resident was assaulted in her home by two men on Sunday morning.
“At 4.45am my alarm went off. I walked through the house and looked through the back windows and saw nothing, and then again through the front windows and still nothing. My dogs were still barking so loudly,” said Heather Nel, the owner of Homeleigh Haven Resthome and Daycare. “My son, Michael Leppan, lives next door and he saw the two men. One was in the house and the other man was standing outside the window.”
The robber inside the room climbed on top of the elderly woman (who did not wish to be named) and began prying the rings off of her fingers. The robber who was standing outside lent into the room and placed his hand over the woman’s mouth to muffle her cries for help.
Leppan saw the two men and screamed at the top of his lungs. “The two men were able to get away, but by this time I was trying to get hold of my security company,” said Nel. The two men stole the elderly women’s rings and her cellphone.
Twenty minutes after the robbery, the daughter of the frail care resident (who also did not wish to be named) received a call from one of the robbers from the stolen cellphone.
He said he had my mother and was demanding that I gave him money or he would kill her. I then heard him hitting someone and heard an elderly woman screaming. I have no idea if it was staged or if they broke into another house afterwards, said the daughter.
Andreas Mathios, a Pro Act patroller and SA CAN duty manager, received a frantic phonecall at 4.59am informing him of the incident, and subsequently sent out an alert to the the provincial SAPS, radio control at the SAPS in Durban, the SAPS in Pinetown and the Pine Ridge Neighbourhood Watch members.
“They surrounded the crime scene with tactical precision. Two men were spotted running into a bushy area. One man was caught in a two-hour bush ordeal,” said Mathios. The elderly woman’s cellphone was recovered, along with a bag of jewellery that did not contain her rings.
Both the provincial SAPS and Pinetown detectives are investigating and another arrest is expected soon. “A team shout-out to the Pine Ridge Neighbourhood Watch’s relentless and tireless work, believing that together, SA CAN,” said Mathios.
