A cellphone and bank cards were allegedly stolen from a family while they were watching a movie in a Ster-Kinekor cinema in a Rosebank Mall recently.
Henk Olivier, a business owner, said he and his wife and their two children were in a near-empty cinema during an afternoon show when the incident occurred.
“I noticed that the fire escape door opened twice during the movie, close to the beginning and close to the end of the two-hour show,” Olivier said.
He claims his wife’s handbag was on the floor throughout the movie. When the show ended, he found one of his wife’s bank cards lying on the ground. He said panic set in as they realised that they had been robbed.
“We searched the entire theatre, but could not find her iPhone,” Olivier said.
Jabu Ngwenya, day manager of the cinema refuted Olivier’s claims. He said the emergency exit doors with a crash bar only opened from the inside, making it impossible for anyone to enter using the emergency exit door.
“Mr Olivier’s wife must have misplaced her phone. We never have any crime here and we look after our customers,” Ngwenya said.
The cinema manager went on to say that customers’ bags and purses were not searched upon entering or leaving the theatre, therefore, there was no way of knowing what customers walked in with and walked out without.
A frustrated Olivier said he contacted the cinema’s call centre and the mall centre security to report the matter following the manager’s failure to do so. He has since opened a case of theft at Rosebank Police Station and alleges there were more victims.
Spokesperson for Rosebank Police Station, Sergeant Bongi Mdletshe, said the police were aware of an additional two incidents at cinemas.
“We have received cases of theft. We are currently still investigating,” Mdletshe said.
“No suspects have been arrested but if anyone has any information regarding the incidents, please forward the information to us to make our investigation easy so we can book the perpetrators.”
In an official statement, Ster-Kinekor offered its sincere apologies to the victims and said they were working closely with the mall’s security team and the police to investigate the theft and to identify any possible suspects.
