Jewellery store owner shot, robbed

141122- Cape Town. A jewellery store owner was was shot and robbed of all his merchandise from his car by several men outside his store in Wynberg early this morning. The armed men stole the store keys and the locks were later changed this morning. Reporter: Kowthar Solomons. pic : Jason Boud

141122- Cape Town. A jewellery store owner was was shot and robbed of all his merchandise from his car by several men outside his store in Wynberg early this morning. The armed men stole the store keys and the locks were later changed this morning. Reporter: Kowthar Solomons. pic : Jason Boud

Published Nov 23, 2014

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Cape Town -

A jewellery store owner was yesterday shot and wounded in Wynberg in what appears to have been a carefully planned robbery – the third business robbery in a week and one of at least eight incidents in which criminals have targeted businesses around Cape Town this month.

Police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk said four armed men robbed and shot the jewellery store owner in his arm and assaulted his wife in a parking lot in front of their store yesterday.

The owner was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Van Wyk said the robbers managed to get away with an undisclosed amount of cash, custom-made jewellery, keys to the jewellery store, as well as those to the couple’s home and their silver Mercedes-Benz van. But they did not manage to get away with the van.

Less than an hour after the robbery, police cordoned off the area and a forensic team was on site to comb the van for fingerprints. Blood smears could be seen on the left side and rear of the vehicle.

A taxi driver told Weekend Argus he had seen the robbery happen. He said the robbers had waited near the store for at least 30 minutes before the owner arrived.

The taxi driver, who asked to remain anonymous, said men approached the front passenger side of the van, where the owner’s wife was seated, and tapped on the window.

“I didn’t pay much attention, but then I saw one of the men struggling with the owner. At first I thought they were friends and were just being playful. But then I saw a gun.

“The man and his wife shouted to the nearby security guard for help. I called out to another taxi driver who I knew had a gun to protect his own van from robberies. But it was too late and I heard the gunshot. The next thing I saw was the owner clutching his left arm as blood poured from it.”

The taxi driver said the gunmen hit the owner’s wife on the head with the butt of a gun during the incident.

According to drivers from the nearby Wynberg taxi rank, the owner had been robbed before. As a precaution against an overnight break-in, the owner took some belongings from the store and kept the items elsewhere.

Locksmiths yesterday changed the locks on the store’s security door and windows.

A nearby wholesale shopowner said he was terrified after he heard about the robbery. “We are all scared, but what can we do? Our businesses are our livelihoods and we have to keep going. I hope the jewellery store owner recovers soon and police arrest the robbers as soon as possible.”

One taxi commuter said she walked past the jewellery store every morning on her way to work.

“There is no place safe anymore. First it was the malls, but now that security stepped up, the criminals are hitting the smaller businesses where the police aren’t expecting it.

“There is no business, big or small, that these criminals won’t go after.”

In other incidents this week, a business owner was murdered in Athlone outside his shop on Friday.

Gunmen opened fire on him as he got out his car and took a money bag from him.

In another incident, a fast food store at the Promenade Mall in Mitchells Plain was robbed late on Thursday.

Van Wyk said six gunmen had targeted the store. They got away with an undisclosed amount of cash and cellphones.

- Sunday Argus

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