Doonside business burglars come undone

Four men robbing a Doonside business premises of computers on Saturday morning, 26 August got a bit more than they bargained for when someone spotted them.

A neighbouring business owner’s son, Tyler Wessels (27) saw men running in and out of the premises carrying computers at about 6am after the alarm was activated.

“I shouted at them and they immediately jumped into their getaway car and drove off,” he said. Unfortunately for them, Tyler wasn’t having any of it and chased them in his own vehicle.

“They turned north on the N2 and I ran into the back of their vehicle on the Toti River bridge. The driver almost lost control, but then I gave them some space.”

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They took the Moss Kolnick off-ramp and got stuck in traffic. “In the vicinity of the bridge going down to Southgate, I bumped their vehicle again.

They turned into Blaze Way near the fire station and fortunately an off-duty policeman helped me cordon off the road.”

However, when Tyler and the cop got to the robbers’ vehicle, they had abandoned it and fled into nearby bushes. Fortunately his own vehicle was not too badly damaged in the chase.

The Community Crime Prevention Organisation (CCPO) and Toti SAPS attended the scene and the getaway vehicle was taken to the police station for inspection. “Hopefully a few fingerprints will help identify the scumbags,” said CCPO committee member, George Snodey.

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The stolen property was still in the vehicle and also taken to the station.

“Well done Tyler for taking the initiative and getting involved – plenty of people don’t want to get involved. This car could have some valuable information in it and SAPS needs a breakthrough, as the theft of computers, flat screen TVs, laptops and so on from business premises is prevalent in most areas of KZN and has been ongoing for years now,” said Snodey.