A man who was robbed of valuables at his home, apparently after being followed from OR Tambo International Airport, has opened up about the ordeal.
The incident was caught on CCTV at the victim’s home in Sharonlea. It took the four armed men, who were travelling in a silver Hyundai Accent, four minutes to rob him. He was with his parents and brother in the car.
Because they only took valuable items from his vehicle and trailer, Jeremy (surname withheld) is convinced he was robbed by an organised syndicate operating from the airport. He said he could not have noticed he was being tailed that Sunday morning, on 8 January, as it was raining.
“Since my family had huge luggage, I went straight to the pickup park, loaded their luggage and proceeded,” he said.
As soon as he opened the gate when he got home, he saw a man approaching. “From the way he approached us, I just knew it was a robbery. [Because of the trailer], I couldn’t reverse out of the yard [quickly].”
His wife and two-year-old son were in the house, and the first thing that came to his mind was the safety of the family members who were in the vehicle with him. As one of the robbers knocked on his car window while pointing a gun at him, he made a split-second decision to stop the car.
“When he [tapped on the window] with the gun, I opened the door and did not want to compromise the safety of my family,” he said.
The man, who was wearing a hoodie, asked him if he had a gun and told him he would shoot him if he disobeyed him. While his accomplice ransacked the trailer and the vehicle’s boot, the man took their wallets, cellphones, rings and jackets.
In addition to the car keys, they only took the specific bags with valuable items, Jeremy alleged.
He said local security companies and Douglasdale police were helpful and added, “Unfortunately, the police are under-resourced.
“This suburb was voted the safest in the northern region of Johannesburg and still is. It’s just that these guys followed us from the airport.”
Mike Embelton of the Central Sharonlea Residents’ Forum said the security company immediately dispatched vehicles when the victim pressed the panic button. “Those robbers showed that they followed the vehicle from the airport,” he said.
He cautioned residents to always check their surroundings for suspicious vehicles at least three traffic lights before they reach their homes.
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