WATCH: Community, security and police unite to make same-day arrest following house robbery
OBSERVATORY – The stolen items were recovered as was the vehicle used in the crime.
Business owner and victim of the crime, Marco Buffa Pace, told the North Eastern Tribunethat at 10.15am, the unarmed suspects approached his home on Louis Road in Observatory. He said, “They came to the front saying that we hadn’t paid them and they were going to turn off our electricity.”
He added that they had looked like legitimate employees and let them in to check their meter. The suspects then proceeded to unplug all electronics in the house.
Buffa Pace said, “One of them was leading through the house saying that they had to take readings without any of the electronics while the other guy held all the stuff.
“They took it to their car and said that they would be back, and before you we knew it they were gone.”
The suspects allegedly stole various electronic items to the value of approximately R100 000, including laptops, cell phones and cameras.
Buffa Pace then went to Yeoville Police Station to open up a case of robbery, without much success. As an Eblockwatch member, he then approached the founder of Eblockwatch, Bryanston’s Andre Snyman, to assist in the case. Snyman then called Donny Reddy, the general manager of National Security and Fire (formerly Chubb security), to follow up on the case.
Reddy said, “We had received the call from Mr Snyman and were able to track the suspects to a house in Dobsonville in Soweto. We alerted the police in the area who went to the suspects home with three vehicles.” This was at around 7.30pm.
Police arrive at the scene of the suspect’s house. Photo: Supplied
Reddy said that the police entered the premises where the family of one of the suspects was, but the suspect jumped over the property’s wall and evaded arrest. He said police arrested the suspect’s girlfriend. The suspects involved in the initial robbery are still at large.
