AN Empangeni resident has questioned the competence of armed response security guards in fulfilling their patrol duties.
This after his home on Cactus Drive was broken into on Easter Sunday by three burglars who crawled underneath his security beams before entering his house.
After carefully manoeuvring their way past the beams, the suspects gained access into the house via the roof and ceiling.
Agreeing to speak to the ZO on the basis on anonymity, the resident explained that he received a call from his security company at 4am, notifying him that his home alarm had been triggered and that an armed response guard would be dispatched to do a routine check of the premises.
An SMS notification at 4:21am indicated that his alarm had again been triggered, however this time it was because of the security guard who was patrolling his premises – some 20 minutes after the alarm was initially triggered.
After conducting the patrol, the security guard noted on an armed response slip that everything was fine.
The homeowner said he began feeling restless.
‘I couldn’t sleep and went onto my cellphone to monitor my camera systems at home.
‘I noticed that two of my cameras were turned, facing up to the sky, and another was completely off.
I suspected that they cut the wire,’ he said.
‘I phoned my security company and told them that they needed to dispatch another guard to the scene because of what I had seen on my cameras.’
Still restless, the homeowner then phoned his neighbour, as well as another friend who lives down the road, and alerted them as to what he had witnessed.
‘My neighbour approached my fence and when he looked over he saw three guys in my yard.
‘He shouted and fired a few gun shots in their direction and they quickly jumped over my back wall and headed into the green belt behind my property.’
The homeowner said the burglars gained access by the cutting razor wire on the wall in the backyard. The armed response guard walked directly past it without noticing.
They thieves entered the home by removing roof tiles, cutting though sheeting and entering the home through a trap door in the ceiling.
Whilst nothing was taken, the homeowner said he is now faced with the added cost of security upgrades at his home.
‘There is nothing else I can do. I have to do the upgrades because I want to keep my family safe,’ he said.
Meanwhile two homes were broken into at the weekend.
On Saturday morning a house in Michael Collins was broken into where laptops, tablets, video cameras, clothes, shoes and jewellery were stolen.
That evening another home was broken into at Eagle Drive between 5pm and 8pm.
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