Durban - Staff at the Pavilion Shopping Mall in Westville are to undergo polygraph tests on Friday, following the theft of a couple’s car from the rooftop parking, the mall’s general manager, Anton Dekker, says.
This follows allegations by a Westville couple that crucial CCTV footage was interfered with at the “exact” time that their VW Microbus disappeared at the weekend.
Alex Strachan believes the video footage would have identified the thieves.
Dekker would not comment on allegations that Pavilion staff might have tampered with the video footage, saying he was investigating “all those claims”.
Strachan said the video footage shown to him “clearly” showed him parking the vehicle, but then it became blurred and, when it resumed, the VW MIcrobus had vanished.
Dekker said operators had to monitor more than 300 cameras. “If the operator sees something, they react.”
Asked how the Strachan’s vehicle could have been stolen from a secure and ticketed car park, Dekker said it was due to a “grace period of 30 minutes” for which shoppers could park for free.
He said the system had now been changed and shoppers would have to present their tickets, which corresponded with their vehicle’s number plate, at the exit.
“We are taking the whole system apart and looking at all the recordings.”
The Mercury