WEST TURFFONTEIN – Three men armed with guns robbed the Long family of over R9 000 cash on Thursday October 31, around 06:20.
Mrs Charmaine Long explained that it was just after her husband, Trevor was ready to pull out, going for work as usual. “It was pay day for our workers, my husband was about to pull out of the driveway when one man came in the yard. He cocked a gun and pointed it at my husband. That’s when two other men (his accomplices) came in, one came to me and they all had guns. They started to search the car. At that time I couldn’t scream though I wanted to. I told the guy who was with me ‘Jesus loves you, He doesn’t want you to do this’ however he said he will shoot me.”
The suspects told them that they wanted the money in the white envelope; they took the money and keys of the bakkie. They were then ordered to go inside the house, not to try to follow them. “Luckily our teen children were still asleep when all this happened. When they woke up, we first prayed and then my husband called the police. The police came just after 08:00, they took my husband’s statement and I was told a detective will come to take mine. The guy who took fingerprints came and the detective never arrived and there was no case number given to us,” noted Charmaine.
Then Trevor did a follow-up and he met with Booysens Station Commissioner Brigidier Rangasamy on Monday November 11, where the case was assigned to one of the officers. “Station Commissioner Brigidier Rangasamy was very polite and helpful. I guess police have a lot on their plate to deal with and they are trying, we hope they found the perpetrators because I must say they are very confident because they have guns. The same day they robbed us, we saw them on our street, just walking by,” said Charmaine.
Brigadier Rangasamy, Booysens Station Commander issued this statement:
We have taken note of the concern of Mr and Mrs Long and we would like to place on record our apologies in terms of the ugly situation that they faced. The matter has been registered and is under investigation by a senior office, Capt Wehmeyer.
To be a victim of crime has a tremendous negative emotional bearing on a person and as a result, we will do everything in our power to bring the perpetrators to book.
Taking into consideration that we are approaching the festive season we would like to appeal to all residences in the Booysens Precinct to please take the necessary precaution and don’t accept secondhand policing.
All the members of the community are free to contact the Station Commander, Brigadier Rangasamy or the duty officers on a 24 hour basis if they have a concern. The numbers of the duty officer phones are 079 899 3925, 079 899 3897.
