Durban man tortured, robbed by bogus tilers

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Published Jan 20, 2017

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Durban – A Westville man was electrically shocked, burnt and beaten when a gang of house robbers, disguised as tilers, held him hostage for a harrowing two hours this week.

“They tortured me,” the man – who requested that his identity be withheld – told The Mercury.

He is in the process of renovating his home and subcontractors, who had been helping him before Christmas, returned to work on Monday.

“They had a lot of new guys with them,” he said. “My gut instinct was not to let them in.”

Regardless, he did allow the workers onto his property and they worked through the morning.

At about 1:30pm, two of the “tilers” suddenly accosted him and the regular labourers, working at his home at the time.

The man said, however, that there were six assailants who were active during the robbery.

Armed with handguns, they tied up the man and his labourers. They ripped out the burglar alarm, took the keys and panic buttons and demanded to know where the safe was.

The man complied with their demands, thinking they would take what they wanted and leave. “But they stayed,” he said. They gathered up firearms, cash, cellphones, laptops and jewellery and then they returned, demanding more.

When the man told them there was none, they began torturing him. They stripped an electrical wire, tied it around his toe, stuck one end in a plug socket and shocked him.

“Then they shoved an apple in my mouth and they got chilli sauce and poured it all over me,” he said. “I was burnt. The whole of my neck and my scalp was on fire.”

The man was also hit on the head with the butt of a gun and his labourers were beaten.

Eventually, one of his workers managed to break free and untied the man. He ran to a neighbour, who pressed her panic button and alerted the authorities.

The man said police were at the scene within moments.

Speaking about how he felt afterwards, he said simply: “I’ve got my life, I’m happy.”

Westville has become a crime hotspot in recent months, and some people haven’t been so lucky.

Paresh Bodalia and Gary Mackay lost their lives in home invasions late last year.

On Tuesday, there was a reported five house break-ins and one hijacking in the area. A spokesman for the local community policing forum said there was no doubt there had been an increase in crime and that the community was fearful.

He said they needed more police officers and vehicles to cover the area.

The Mercury

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