Durban - Three armed robbers kicked in the front door of the oThongathi home of a Department of Correctional Services employee this week, with one sounding a dire warning if he refused to co-operate.
“He politely said, ‘Don’t be a hero’ and if I gave them what they wanted they would not rape my wife or hurt me,” Rennie Naidoo, 44, told the Daily News on Wednesday “They instructed us not to look at their faces.”
The 15-minute ordeal on Tuesday night has left the family shaken, but they remained calm while the armed robbers ransacked their Daffodil Drive home and made off with their cars and valuables.
Naidoo said he was in the lounge watching television with his wife when he heard a loud bang and the door flew open. A man walked towards him and pointed a gun at his head, he said. Two other men ransacked the rooms.
Naidoo’s 20-year-old son was in the dining room completing his university assignments and his 15-year-old daughter was in her bedroom. They were pulled into the lounge and forced on to the floor, face down, next to their parents. Naidoo said the robbers broke open his safe and took cash, jewellery and two firearms. They took their cellphones, a laptop and walked out.
“I was surprised when I heard my car start up in the yard. They drove off with my Microbus and a silver Mercedes,” he said.
“We did not know if anyone was still watching over us so we remained on the floor.”
Naidoo said the laptop contained his son’s university work and the cellphones had sentimental pictures of their dead pets.
Police spokesman, Colonel Jay Naicker, said police were investigating a case of house robbery. He said no shots were fired or injuries reported.
Daily News