Jerome Kom, a Fairlands resident went through a horrible ordeal when his car was jammed and his possessions were stolen.
Kom went to Cresta Crossing in Blackheath at about 6.30pm some time ago. “I tried locking my car three times before going into the store,” he said. He admitted that he could have checked to make sure it was locked. When Kom drove onto Beyers Naudé, he realised that his backseat was flipped back. This was when he stopped the car and checked his boot. His laptop was stolen, two of his client files and his paramedic bag worth R35 000.
Kom went back to Jetline Printers at Cresta Crossing, which is where he was parked on the evening of the incident. He requested to see the footage of the night his car was broken into. He said that there was a silver Audi A4 that was behind him when he parked, when he went into the shop, the driver of the Audi drove around to make sure he had gone into the shop. The Audi then parked next to him and one man came out, opened his car and stole his belongings. “In the video, I saw a car guard help a woman push a trolley walk right past the man stealing from my car,” said Kom.
Kom said that he had a meeting with the management of the centre and they have not been any help to him to date. Kom, who is an attorney, said that this is a case of vicarious liability which means that employers may be held indirectly or vicariously liable for the delict of their employees subject to the requirements when an employee acted within the scope of employment. He said that the centre should be held liable for the negligence of their car guards. Kom said that when he had a meeting with management, the manager was shocked that the security did not have records of incidents recorded into a journal as they should be.
Kom contacted the Fairland Police and he was told that the footage was taken into forensics for them to magnify the faces. On the day Kom went to see the footage at Jetline Printers, he noticed an Audi with two suspicious looking men, he said that he took one of the guards to go and approach the suspicious men but they sped away. “I quickly went to my car and started chasing them but lost them after a traffic light changed,” he said. Kom admitted that he reacted impulsively and that he should not have done that.
He said that he feels violated and that this was a wake-up call for him and his wife. “I am a community activist and I do not want to see other members of the community fall into the same trap,” said Kom.
Natasha van der Merwe, the Broll Property Group manager for Cresta Crossing said that car jamming is a reality and is not limited to one specific centre. “There are syndicates that roam various Shopping Centres. The safety of your vehicle starts with each individual by ensuring that your vehicle is locked before leaving, irrespective of the fact that you have activated your alarm system, and that all valuables are locked away and not visible to members of the public,” she said.
Van der Merwe said that the landlord has taken notice of the complaints received and is currently in the process of installing anti-jamming alarms and other measures to enhance the current security component at Cresta Crossing.
