A family found themselves in a scary situation earlier today (19 July) when unwanted guests thought to be criminals targeted their Helikonpark home.
A mother, aged 50, and her two daughters aged 21 and 19 were inside the house while their grandmother, 76, was in the backyard in her flat at about 11am, when an unknown number of intruders allegedly targeted their house on Cormorant Street. To everyone’s surprise, one of the suspects, who had managed to enter the home, saw the older daughter, and took to his heels.
The Herald paid a visit to the traumatised family. At this stage, the police had already left the scene of the incident. Footage of the incident was made available to the Herald‘s journalist.
The older daughter said she had heard a vehicle hooting, but only went to investigate when their Shar Pei began barking. She went to the front of the house to see what was going on. The next moment she saw one suspect in the living room allegedly holding a gun. However, the moment the intruder saw her, he ran outside.
The mother also heard the hooting outside the gate, but did not investigate as they were not expecting any visitors. She thought it was just someone making a noise in the street. However, when we viewed the CCTV footage we could see a vehicle standing in front of the house for approximately 20 minutes. A person can then be seen going up to the gate and trying to open it.
The mother told the Herald that the gate remote was broken so they had used a padlock to lock the gate. The same person then took something out of the car, and kept on fiddling with the gate.
Eventually, he managed to open the gate with what looked like a crowbar. After opening the gate, he put the device he had used back into the vehicle. The vehicle then moved forward while two other intruders entered the yard. Another person remained in the vehicle.
One of the intruders can then be seen opening the garage door halfway and then closing it. They are also seen walking around on the premises. One person then tried to open the sliding door, succeeded, and entered the house. About 30 seconds after that, one intruder can be seen walking back to the vehicle. Seconds later, a second intruder ran to the vehicle, which then drove away.
After the incident, the mother notified residents of the neighbourhood of what had happened via Whatsapp. Shortly after, the residents responded and help was on the way. According to the family, the local security company (Mapogo) was quick to arrive on scene, closely followed by the police.
The Herald will pass the official police response to the incident on as soon as possible.
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