Vandals make life a nightmare for Coronationville business owner

Vandals threaten the potential income for business and property owners in Coronationville. Flora Nelson and her late husband owned the shop since 1988 (for thirty years) and after being in the area for such a long time, she didn’t expect that the property which once generated an income would become a burden.

“The two shops have been closed for quite a while, but the middle one I rented out to Ethiopian guys but these guys were harassed for months by  Coronationville youngsters.

“The guys who were renting moved out on the night of July 28. It was on a  Sunday morning that the vandals moved in and started trashing this place.

“I came to the property the same morning to get people to weld the places closed but these guys managed to break down the wall.

“They stole palisade fencing,  electrical wires, water was running down the street because they pulled out the taps and broke the pipes.

“Every day they came back for something they saw value in like the doors, the toilet systems and the metal sheets on the roof,” explained Nelson.

According to the property owner, the tenants had to sleep in their shop because they couldn’t leave because of their fear of the vandals.

“When they left, they left a security guard to watch the place at night and these vandals harassed him. They stole his bed from right under him. On Sunday these vandals were walking in the street trying to sell the mattress. I believe that there were fifteen vandals in the yard on Sunday and they were chilling in the yard,” Nelson added.

The owner said that the police could not open a case because people do not want to come forward. they see and know the guys who are doing these things but they say that they are too afraid to report these crimes because they live in the area.

One of Nelsons biggest issues is with the ‘Cash for Scrap’ owners, Nelson said they need to know that they shouldn’t be buying these stolen goods. They don’t even ask these youngsters where they’re getting all of the goods from, they just buy it from them.

“I don’t even know if I can call this an investment because it’s really a curse. The people who are renting here also, they couldn’t even pay rent because of all the robberies thexperienced. I would like to sell this property but I don’t know if anyone would buy this. I had to report the incident because I needed it for Pikitup and City Power.”

“It’s just so heartbreaking that my husband gave twenty-five years of his life to serving this community and there is nobody here to stand up for him. I am 73 years old, I don’t need this kind of stress in my life. I’ve been trying to rent the place out so that I can at least meet the commitment for my rates and taxes but it keeps escalating with the value of the property.”