Pretoria - A 45-year-old Bangladeshi man was strangled to death during a robbery at Saria Mini Market in Gezina on Saturday.
An eyewitness who cannot be named for security reasons said he was jogging past Saria Mini Market just after 7am when he noticed suspicious activity at the shop.
The man said he saw a Toyota Avanza parked a distance from the shop, and wondered why people were carrying seemingly heavy goods in a hurry to a car some distance away. “I wondered why the car was not parked next to the shop as the bags they were carrying looked heavy,” said the eyewitness.
“I managed to take down the registration number of the car, and at that stage I noticed a customer who had just arrived at the shop running away.
The robbers, three men and a woman, immediately got into their car and drove off at high speed.
“When I went to the shop to investigate, my fears were confirmed as I found one of the shopkeepers had been strangled to death, and had a cloth around his neck.”
A woman from a neighbouring house who arrived at the scene shortly after the robbers had left said the two shopkeepers had their hands and feet tied and that plastic bags had been pulled over their heads. She also cannot be identified for her own safety.
The woman said this was the second robbery in two weeks at the same shop. As a result, the shopkeepers kept the security screen to the shop locked all the time.
The surviving shopkeeper said a woman who was probably known to the murdered shopkeeper had phoned to say she was coming to buy cigarettes. That was probably the reason why they had opened the shop, he said, and why the shopkeeper was strangled to death as the female client had feared being identified.
The robbers assaulted the surviving shopkeeper who had bruises all over the face and head. He was too traumatised to speak to the media.
According to the woman who lives close to the shop, the robbers got away with cash and an assortment of groceries, including cigarettes and drinks. She said an Opel Corsa bakkie was used during the first robbery two weeks ago, and that a customer had been able to take down the registration of that bakkie.
She said that since the first robbery, police officers had regularly driven past the shop asking if all was well. “But the shopkeepers told me that each time the police passed by, they asked for cigarettes, chips and drinks which they did not pay for. The shopkeepers did not know what to do about this as it was draining their meagre resources,” she said.
Police on Sunday confirmed they were investigating a case of murder and robbery. “At about 7.15am four men and a woman entered the Saria Mini Market on the corner of Jacob Street and 14th Avenue in Gezina.
“They found the Bangladeshi man and his younger brother, 29, inside the shop. The men threatened the two Bangladeshi men and made them lie down on the floor. The suspects put a plastic bag over the younger brother’s head and strangled the older Bangladeshi man,” said the police.
The suspects took an unknown amount of cash and stock before they fled in a silver grey Toyota Avanza, registration number WNX 935 GP, police said. No arrests had been made by Sunday afternoon. Police were investigating whether the registration was real or fake.
Police have urged anyone with information to contact the Pretoria Moot police station at 012 353 5441 or the Crime Stop number at 08600 10111.
Pretoria News
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