Durban - Robbers who invaded the home of a Durban family pepper-sprayed a sleeping four-month-old baby and pointed a gun at a three-year-old girl.
Brenda and Allen Lockyear and their children, Blake and Juliette, had returned to South Africa three months ago after 11 years abroad.
The family were staying with Allen’s parents – Pam and Des Naudé – after arriving in December from the UK. Their own home in Glen Ashley was being renovated.
Allen, 33, a civil engineer, was on business in the UK, when the robbers struck on Saturday night. The intruders, who covered their faces with balaclavas and pillow cases, also pepper-sprayed the family’s aged pet German Shepherd until the dog passed out.
They were apparently undeterred by the several “vicious dog” warning signs on the front gate and 18 kennel dogs Pam Naudé, a dog behaviourist and trainer, keeps on her property.
One robber walked straight up to Brenda and pepper-sprayed baby Blake, who was asleep in his mother’s arms, Naudé said.
“He also had a gun, which he pointed at Juliette,” she said.
“The baby was screaming with pain and he could not breathe. By this time two more suspects appeared. One of them cocked the gun and placed it to my husband’s head. He, too, was repeatedly pepper-sprayed,” Naudé said.
She said in all the commotion, one of the robbers did not realise he was holding the pepper-spray can the wrong way and ended up spraying himself in the face.
She said she was most upset at the baby being targeted.
“They had no right to harm him. That makes me very angry. Crime is out of control. It is getting worse and worse every day,” she said.
“Government needs to do more. They should even consider imposing curfews to keep people off the streets.”
“My son (Allen) came back because this is home,” Naudé told the Daily News on Tuesday.
Naudé said she had been watching a Barney video with her three-year-old granddaughter on Saturday night while her daughter-in-law was rocking the baby to sleep.
Her husband Des, a contracts manager at Tongaat Hulett, had been watching rugby on a patio television set and braaiing, when all hell broke loose.
Naudé said: “I went outside to the patio to have a cigarette with my husband when a figure appeared at the front door. The man was wearing a balaclava. He said nothing. He just pointed the gun at us and signalled us to go into the house.”
Her husband pleaded with the robber not to shoot them or harm their grandchildren.
“I ran inside the house to my granddaughter. At the same time another suspect, who had a pillow case over his head, appeared at the back door. He placed his finger to his mouth and warned us not to shout,” she said. “My granddaughter, who calls me Gogo, kept asking who the man was.”
“They then forced us into the bedroom. Des could barely see, but he managed to pick the dog up and take him into the room with us. They demanded cash, jewellery and the safe.”
Naudé said they also wanted the keys to the front gate and asked if there were CCTV cameras in the house.
“These guys were professionals. They seemed to know the layout of the house and where all the dogs were kept.They ransacked the entire house.”
She said the robbers stole goods worth more than R350 000 which they packed into her five-month-old Honda Jazz, which has the personalised licence plate, Gogo1 ZN.
They stole TV sets, a computer, cellphones, an iPad, wallets and her husband’s irreplaceable watch collection, comprising more than 20 pieces.
The couple were not insured.
“They loaded all the stuff into the Honda and sped off,” Naudé said. “After they left we did not know what to do. We had no form of communication – all the phones were gone. My husband and Brenda ran two houses down the street and called the police.”
The local community police forum, Suncell, was also alerted. “It is an SMS service that alerts the neighbourhood to any crime,” Naudé said. “A Suncell member arrived within minutes. He gave us a cellphone and told us to make as many calls as we needed to. A short while later the police arrived.”
An ambulance was also called to attend to the baby and Juliette, who was battling to breathe because of the pepper-spray gas.
Suncell head, Craig Adendorff, said through the SMS network police and security companies were also alerted to the robbery at Naudé’s home.
“This gang appears to be operating on weekends. They are heavily armed and their latest tactic appears to be the use of pepper spray.”
Naudé said that, since the incident, her son and his family had moved into their own home and had made more than R15 000 worth of security improvements. Allen had returned to Durban a day after the robbery.
“He said he will stay and give South Africa one more chance. But, if this has to ever happen again, he will be back on the next flight to the UK, with all of us.”
Naudé, who is from Zambia, said she always vowed to leave if she became a victim of violent crime.
“We have been living here for 23 years. But now I am a prisoner in my own home. I am living in constant fear that someone is going to jump over the wall or bushes at any time,” she said. “But, I am not going to run. We plan on just improving our awareness and keeping the doors and gates locked.”
Daily News