Johannesburg - A video showing a young girl being directed by two women to steal a cellphone from a handbag in a Joburg restaurant has gone viral.
The crime was caught on CCTV cameras at The Schwarma Co restaurant in Norwood.
Filmed off CCTV footage by 16-year-old Jessica Ostrin, it shows her sister Gabriella’s iPhone being removed from her handbag.
On Wednesday morning their father, Phillip Ostrin, said Gabriella, 17, had realised about five minutes after the theft that her phone was missing.
He said Gabriella and her grandmother were at The Schwarma Co on Saturday when the phone was stolen.
“Gabriella asked to view the CCTV footage because she thought the phone might have been cleared away by mistake but then she saw the theft.”
She left the restaurant with her grandmother and returned home, he said. Later that day she returned with her tech savy sister Jessica to view the footage again.
Jessica filmed the footage, which she then posted on YouTube.
Ostrin said they were shocked that a child was being used to steal the phone. “It’s terrible and we were very concerned so she posted the footage.”
Phillip said they reported the incident to the police the following day.
Gauteng police spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Katlego Mogale said no case had been opened at Norwood police station.
The posting had over 102 000 views on Wednesday morning and has been reposted several times on both local and international news websites.
“This was filmed on a phone as the owner of the restaurant in Norwood, South Africa, let us view the CCTV footage,” reads the video description.
It speculates that the child in the video is aged seven.
In the video, a pair of women are seen dining in the centre of the restaurant. A woman and a young girl walk up to the table next to them while another woman walks around the diners’ table.
All three sit down at the table and the two adult women engage in a discussion and then look over to the pair of women who are eating.
One of the diners who has her back to the camera is sitting with her handbag between her and the back of the chair.
One of the women speaks to the young girl who gets up from the table and walks around the back of the diner’s chair.
The girl stops and holds on to the back of her chair before she leans over and dips into the open handbag with her right arm.
She takes a few seconds to rummage around in the bag before withdrawing a white cellphone.
She slips back to the table under the watchful eye of the women and zips the phone into her hooded grey sweatshirt.
The trio quickly get up from the table and leave the restaurant as the diners continue their meal unaware that they had just been the victims of theft.
Owner of The Schwarma Co, Wafi Schabne, said it was an unfortunate incident.
“I did encourage the girl to press charges at the time but she didn’t want to.”
On hearing that the matter had been reported, Schabne said he was pleased.
“People have now seen this incident on camera and people like this (the thieves) should stay away from this area.”
He urged people to always keep their belongings within sight.
The Star