A white Toyota Avanza 2009 model belonging to a visitor at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre in Parktown was stolen on 25 October.
According to the medical centre’s security supervisor, Ben Dubazana of Cortac Tactical Services, at about 10.40am the owner of the vehicle arrived at the hospital with her family. Due to a lack of parking spaces, she was forced to park her vehicle outside the centre’s premises.
“She tried to enter the parking area using gate 21 but she was not allowed in because it was already full,” said Dubazana.
He added that the woman then went to park near the stop sign on Eaton Road and security officers on duty ensured she had safely parked and went on patrolling the rest of the street.
“Around 12.45pm when the patient went back to where she had parked her car, she found that it was no longer there,” said Dubazana.
“We had two security officers on duty patrolling but none of them saw anything.”
However, Annalie Stadler, the owner of the vehicle said the security officers promised to ensure the safety of her vehicle but failed to do so. “When I left my car I asked them if they would be there looking after my car and they said I should not worry,” said Stadler.
“I saw the officers who were patrolling the street sitting under a tree.”
Stadler claimed when Dubazana was alerted by other security officers about the theft of the vehicle, the officers patrolling Eaton Road did not want to answer questions about the theft which led her to suspect that they knew more.
“The [security] company and the hospital have promised that they would investigate the matter,” said the frustrated victim. “Nobody wants to take responsibility.”
When contacted, Cortac Tactical Services declined to comment and said all questions should be directed to hospital management.
Parkview police’s Sergeant Iris Phoko confirmed that a case of vehicle theft had been opened at the station.
“Police are working hard to find the perpetrators, but at this stage, we have no new information,” said Phoko.
“We will be continuing with our investigation.”
