Telephone cable stolen from Children of Fire

Children of Fire’s telephone connection was cut off in the middle of the night with no warning after suspects stole their cables.

Brixton Police Station spokesperson, Jeanette Backhoff said the telephone lines were stolen outside the children’s home, after a case was opened on 14 March at Brixton police.

“Cable theft in the Auckland park area is a common problem which has been reported regularly by other residents. The case is still under investigation and no arrests have been made at this stage,” said Backhoff.

Children of Fire founder, Bronwen Jones said she realised there was a problem during a Skype conversation with burn victims in the UK at 10pm, when her line suddenly died.

The next morning she contacted Telkom who arrived at her home to assist with the problem. Upon investigation, a hollow cable was discovered at the back of her house.

“We discovered a large length was missing from the connection. I did not anticipate that people would steal a cable with such little metal in it but reckon if you steal a telephone line there are lesser chances of being electrocuted. I’m concerned about the theft of cables taking place again,” said Jones.

She added her organisation regularly receives phone calls from all over Africa from people seeking help for burn victims. When the phone lines are not working, it affects their ability to save lives. Her phone lines have since been restored.

“I plead with Brixton police to approach scrapyards in the area which have telephone cables in their possession and encourage them to make it difficult for thieves to sell the cables to them.

This can assist with discouraging people from approaching the scrapyards with stolen goods,” said Jones.

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