Vacant Glen Hills property a haven for criminals
A Glen Hills resident is fed up with crime in the area and hopes the owners of a vacant property take action soon.
FOR 14 years a property in Plane Street, Glen Hills has been vacant. But since November last year neighbours have noticed crime has plagued the area. One resident, Belinda Coetzee, believes the site is being used as a hideout and storage spot by criminals.
“This has not been a problem until recently. Prior to this we had issues with rats, rubble etc. However, the crime started in November last year when we had our first incident when our vehicle was broken into. Since January this year our cars have been broken into five times and our garden shed once,” Coetzee said. The most serious was when Coetzee’s fiance saw intruders on their Tipuana Drive property trying to get into the cars again.
“We were woken up one evening with people running around shining torches into our home. This was as a result of the neighborhood watch chasing a suspect who had broken into a home in the area. The suspect ran into the vacant property in question to hide. The police actually found some of the stolen goods hidden on the property,” she said.
Coetzee said when she spoke to one of the members of the neighborhood watch they advised that this was not the first time and that the criminals have been using that properly as a hide out and using it to jump fences to get away for some time.
“What is stopping them from trying to get into my home next? Often my fiance is away working, what will happen if it is just myself and my two children at home? The criminals nowadays show no remorse irrespective of age or gender. I fear the worst,” she said.
“I would like to see the owners of this property take accountability, either develop the land, sell it or ensure that it is kept clean and tidy at all times. When I refer to clean, I mean totally cleared, not just trimmed to look good.
“Furthermore, neighbours use this as a garden refuse dump site. I would like this to stop, they should show some consideration. Often I have paid to have the trees from that property cut back and employed a gardener to try clean up on my boundary wall. I paid to have that wall put up as the only thing that was there was a shoddy little wooden fence.”
Northglen News called one of the five owners of the property and sent questions to him via email, but he has not responded as yet.
Local councillor, Heinz de Boer, said he would look into the matter and get the parks department to take the relevant steps to ensure the property is maintained regularly.
