Durban – A Westville family is reeling after a harrowing attack at their Westcliff Avenue home on Tuesday morning.
This was one of four reported incidents in Westville, all within minutes of each other.
Police said the 52-year-old owner was at home at the time and was unharmed during the attack.
“The domestic worker was about to open the security gate, when she saw four armed men at the gate.
They entered the house and approached the owner.
After threatening and assaulting him, they forced him to open the safe and made off with firearms,” a police source said.
Members of the local neighbourhood watch groups came under fire when they responded to the robbery.
“We were called out to the scene and our patrollers blocked off the possible escape routes that the gang could have used to flee,” a member of the Westville North patrol group told the Daily News.
“I went down one of the roads and saw a suspect holding a rifle. He fired shots at my vehicle. I was grazed by one of the bullets,” he said
The men fled in a silver-grey Mercedes Benz. A case of house robbery was opened and is being investigated by the Pinetown police Trio Task Team.
There were another two house robberies in Crieff and Warspite Roads just minutes later.
There was also an attempted break-in at Markley Road where men derailed a gate.
However, the alarm was triggered and the criminals fled empty-handed.
In Reservoir Hills, police responded to a housebreaking where criminals made off with household goods.
A white Renault Clio, used in the robbery in Warspite Road was recovered in Umbilo and one person was arrested.
A Westville resident, who declined to be named, said these robberies followed on from two more in the area on Monday.
“It is becoming crazy. We have had to take up regular patrols of the area and have noticed that once you squeeze crime out of one road, there is a spike in another road,” the resident said.
He believed that residents needed to take back their streets and install boom gate entrance points.
“When there are these types of incidents, people are quick to talk about putting up boom gates, but after a while it goes quiet. These entrance points have helped us in our area to get rid of a lot of people who just walk in and out off the roads."
“There is even a list of names of all the domestic workers in the area so the guard knows exactly who belongs here and who does not. It is unfortunate that this is what we have to do, but it has helped us,” the resident said.
Satish Dhupelia, a community activist and member of the Sydenham Community Policing Forum, noted with concern the recent crime spike in the area.
“Since the beginning of the year, we have seen far more crimes than we normally do in these areas and more involving weapons. The Community Policing Forum has noted that recently in Reservoir Hills there were two hijackings within a short space of time and in close proximity to each other. We have also seen that same pattern in house robberies in Reservoir Hills and Westville,” said Dhupelia.
He said it was unclear if the robberies were all the work of a syndicate operating. However, police investigations would reveal if that was so.
“What we as citizens do know is that we feel unsafe in our homes, on the streets, in our cars and in fact anywhere, even when we pay respect to the dead in cemeteries and crematoriums,” said Dhupelia.
He commended the members of local CPFs and neighbourhood watches, who responded to the distress calls.
However he highlighted the fact that these people put their lives at risk.
“It is the responsibility of the state to provide us with a safe and secure environment and while we all are concerned, we have seen no new measures taken to increase the resources at the police stations, which need more manpower and equipment,” he said.
He felt that with the increase in crime, there were no proactive measures being taken by the province and state to protect citizens who are soft and easy targets for criminals who carried more firepower than the average policeman.