An eyewitness recounted his experience of the robbery that took place on Friday 7 July at the new Tambotie Mall to the Herald.
Early that morning, a major pharmacy at the mall was targeted by alleged armed robbers. It is still unknown how many of them broke into the pharmacy.
Kobus Needham said he, his wife Charmaine, and their 9-year-old daughter went to the mall at about 6.30am that day to withdraw cash. He said that when they arrived, they saw men wearing balaclavas and white masks (over their mouths) carrying goods in the parking lot. They also saw a white vehicle, of a specific make, and a bakkie.
Read initial article here: JUST IN: Armed robbers hit new mall
“One of the men dropped a packet from the pharmacy in question. My wife said she thought something suspicious was happening, but I told her they sometimes clean at this time of the morning. We approached the mall, where my wife saw a man holding a gun.”
The man with the firearm then told them, in Afrikaans, “Kom in”. Needham said that when the man spoke, he stepped in front of his wife and told her and their daughter to go back to the parking lot. The man with the firearm then spoke Afrikaans again, saying, “Kom in”.
His wife decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to go back to their brand new vehicle, for fear that they would be hijacked. So she and her daughter ran in the direction of the major retail stores. After that, Kobus said the men jumped into the two vehicles, which he saw had Mpumalanga vehicle registration plates.
Kobus then went to security, where he found some guards still trying to free themselves after being tied up by the robbers. Kobus, who has been in the security field for 30 years asked them if they had pressed the panic button. One guard said they had, and then pressed it.
Meanwhile, Kobus’ wife was unsuccessfully trying to contact. Kobus feels that after the robbery, the entrance of the mall should have been cordoned off as it was a crime scene.
He said, “Employees coming to work were walking in, possibly destroying some evidence like footprints”.
The family then drove to the Randfontein Police to ask for help and to make a statement but after experiencing some communication issues they went back to the mall where they saw a number of security vehicles. The Randfontein Police also were on scene.
Kobus said they found it strange that nobody took their statements, and added, “My wife and daughter were extremely traumatised by the event and my daughter now battles to sleep.”
Charmaine said the one thing that really stood out to her was the perfect Afrikaans the robber spoke.
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