A family is severely traumatised after they were victims of an armed robbery.
According to Jimmy and Tammy Mabula, three men jumped their fence and kicked down their front door to gain access to their home. Tammy said she and her son were watching TV when they heard a banging noise. “The three men kicked down the front door. I demanded to know what they wanted and one of them pulled out a gun and told us to lie face down on the floor,” said Tammy and added that she was afraid their younger children aged nine and 13 would wake up.
Jimmy said he was fast asleep when he heard the banging on the door, which he at first thought was a gun shot. “I jumped up and when I opened the bedroom door, a man was holding a gun to my face. I managed to push him back towards the lounge and when I saw my wife and son lying on the floor, I was very scared,” Jimmy said.
The gunmen took their plasma TV, hi-fi, DVD player, cellphones, laptops, suits, their son’s car keys and Tammy’s handbag.
“I collected my new ID the day before, now I have to apply again,” she said. She added that the younger children fortunately did not wake up amid the chaos.
According to Jimmy he recognised one of the men when the man impersonated a municipal worker the previous week. “He wore reflective clothing, just like municipal workers. The other two I recognised when I left home in the morning. They pretended to dig through the garbage while they scouted the area. They didn’t look like the type of people who would dig through garbage either,” he said and added that the neighbours also had a feeling of apprehension.
“My cellphone was under a pillow, which the men didn’t take. I managed to call the police and they arrived promptly. They found fingerprints belonging to the culprits and a cap, which will be send for DNA tests.”
Jimmy said he had just survived a heart operation and the wound is still tender. “It really hurt when I had to lie on the floor,” he said. The culprits were driving a navy blue VW City Golf without registration plates.
He warns other residents to be on the look-out for the robbers and urged them to help identify the goods that were stolen.
