Pretoria - Two years after their home was invaded by a pair of gun-wielding assailants, Feroza Abramjee still feels traumatised by the incident.
Feroza, wife of Crime Line head Yusuf Abramjee, still feels overwhelmed by emotions when she recalls the events of that day in November 2013.
Feroza was testifying at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court in the trial of two men accused of robbing her and her family at their Erasmia home.
Robert Moeti and Matsau Motsepe, both 29, are facing charges of armed robbery with aggravated circumstances. Moeti faces three additional charges. He is accused of corruption after allegedly attempting to bribe the investigating officer handling their case to dispose of the docket. He is also accused of being in illegal possession of two firearms and ammunition.
The pair allegedly scaled an electric fence and jumped over a wall at Abramjee’s home and held his family at gunpoint. The incident ended in a shoot-out.
“The incident happened two years ago but I still feel scared and shocked. I can’t sit in the glassroom because that's what they used to gain access to the house,” Feroza said. “I haven’t even seen the CCTV footage of the incident, because I am still scared.”
She said she remembers seeing the two accused walking towards the room, but at the time thought they were seeking assistance. Moments later, she realised that the pair were there to harm her and her family as one of them had a pistol.
“The shorter (of the two) grabbed me on the left arm and pulled me up from the couch I was sitting on. He then pushed me towards the front door and I screamed. The taller one, who had a gun, had already gone into the house,” she said.
Feroza was freed and she ran into the kitchen, hiding in the pantry with their helper.
“I heard gunshots and I stayed in the pantry. I heard my husband shouting ‘phone the police, phone the police, we’re being robbed’,” she told the court.
Yusuf Abramjee was later called to the stand.
He told the court that he was about to shower when he was disturbed by a hysterical scream from his wife. “I opened the door and in the passage I saw an unknown man with a firearm in his hand and pointing it at me. He looked at me and said ‘Abramjee I want your BMW’,” he told the court.
He said he did not know the man, but assumed the man had seen him the day before the robbery as he was on a SABC show discussing the issue of crime
The trial will continue on October 21.
Pretoria News