Police refuse to open theft case

A GLENASHLEY resident who had her handbag stolen from a restaurant in Durban North has told Northglen News about her tumultuous ordeal and how police refused to open a case of theft. Nicola Martins only realised her handbag, which included her drivers license, keys and purse, had been stolen once she asked for the bill. What’s more she said she was fobbed off by police who implied she had lost her handbag.

The incident occurred on Saturday (24 May) while Martins and a friend had dinner at a popular Durban North restaurant, however the theft case was only opened three days later on Tuesday (27 May).

According to Martins, the Durban North charge officer refused to open a case and told her she needed to have a suspect in mind and that she needed to have viewed CCTV footage to confirm her handbag had in fact been stolen before opening a theft case.

“I was incredulous; I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The officer kept pushing me into accepting that I had misplaced my bag. He told me to view the CCTV footage before coming back to open the case,” she explained.

Though confused and angry, Martins asked to view the footage, which she did.

“We noticed two women, a young lady and a rather large woman walk into the restaurant and sit down at the front. The manager walks towards them and asks if they would like a table, but the duo told him they were waiting for a third person.

“The larger woman while talking on a phone and leaning sideways on the chair then leans over and lifts something out of a patrons jacket pocket and silently slides it across to the young female.

“The younger woman then stands up and walks towards our table. My handbag was hanging on the back of the chair. The woman then bumps into my chair, which forced me to lean forward. It’s at this point my handbag goes missing. The footage then shows both women leave the restaurant,” she said.

Martins was then assured that a case number would be SMSed to her but had still not received two days later, while waiting in the queue at the licensing department.

“I began to panic and again contacted the station and they denied ever opening a case. I again contacted my friend who had to motivate for a case to be opened, and within a few minutes I received an SMS with the case number,” she said.

Lt Raymond Deokaran, spokesman for the station promised there would be swift action taken against the officer and said the grounds for dismissal were moot points.

“We never ask if residents have a suspect in mind nor do we ask residents to view CCTV footage. Most places will only allow police officers to view the footage. There are steps we take in order to establish whether a crime has taken place.

“However, this is clearly a case of theft. This is an extremely serious situation and I have raised the matter with the station commander over the officer’s conduct. We always ask residents to report any theft and she (Nicola) did the right thing,” he said.

Deokaran added there had been three other cases of handbag theft (two were stolen from restaurants and the third case occurred at a fast food outlet) reported over the same week.