Durban accountant recounts horrifying ordeal of being beaten and kicked during house robbery
The victims allegedly set alight two men accused of being part of an ambush where an off-duty police officer was shot in his home. File picture: Pexels The victims allegedly set alight two men accused of being part of an ambush where an off-duty police officer was shot in his home. File picture: Pexels
Durban - A Parlock home owner has recounted surviving a traumatic house robbery during which he, his wife and daughters as well as their three dogs were assaulted by three gun-wielding bandits this week.
The Durban accountant said he was taken by surprise when armed robbers stormed his home on Monday
The accountant, who did not want to be named, is recovering from pain. His nose and head is swollen after being beaten up by the robbers. He had just arrived home on Monday evening when four men jumped over his wall.
Two others derailed the driveway gate.
“I was at the door when suddenly I felt this blow to the side of my head. I fell to the ground dazed,” he said.
The accountant's wife and three daughters were in the house. Three men rushed in and forced them to the ground at gunpoint. The accountant was kneed in the face and kicked several times.
The robbers demanded the safe.
“They kicked all of us. My youngest daughter screamed 'Don’t hit my daddy'. I was still dazed. They took my daughter and I to the bedroom. They beat me up again in the room. My daughter pointed out where the safe was kept,” he said.
His three dogs, a Maltese, Yorkshire and Border Collie were also kicked several times.
The safe contained jewellery and money. They took his vehicle keys. The robbers took an 80-inch flat screen television.
“The TV could not fit in the car. They squeezed into the getaway car, a Totyota Etios. On Tuesday morning some residents who were jogging found the TV on the side of the road in Amlock Drive. These are material items. Our lives were more important. I was also robbed at my business in 2005. We work hard for what we have. This is the nature of South Africa," he said.
Police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala confirmed that six armed robbers took two laptops, cellphones, jewellery and money. A case of robbery was opened at Newlands East police station.
In a separate incident, Gwala said a family was allegedly accosted by seven unknown armed men clad in balaclavas in their home on Huntley Road in Malvern just after 7pm. The robbers locked the family in the bathroom.
"They allegedly robbed them of cellphones, television, laptops and jewellery at gunpoint," Gwala said.
A case of house robbery was opened at Malvern police station.