Clearly crime in the Laudium/Erasmia area still continues, with the local police seemingly not interested in or not having the ability to combat this ongoing scourge of crime.
While the actual crime incidents in these areas are unknown, as the local police do not give any feedback on the various crimes committed in the area, on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis, the community is left in the dark, not being informed immediately, so that they could take the necessary precautions wherever practical.
This follows yet another incident of a serious crime that took place recently in a non-gated security area, which was reported to the Laudium Sun for stats purposes by a concerned resident. During the incident two armed thugs attacked a home on Crimson Street and beat up a mother, demanding cash from her. The incident which took place last Tuesday afternoon during broad daylight and in a densely situated neighbourhood, has left the family traumatised and out of pocket concerning hard earned cash, saved for school fees and the buying of groceries for the forthcoming fasting month.
Homeowner, Parveen Ali explained further to the Laudium Sun, “I’m still in disbelief and the trauma we’ve experienced is too difficult to articulate. We are truly fed-up and exhausted with this ongoing crime in Laudium. I wasn’t at home on Tuesday when my daughter was attacked as I went shopping, leaving my daughter and her 2-year-old child at home. My daughter who was hysterical, managed to call me immediately after the attack and explained what had happened. I was shocked and immediately rushed home. After calming her down, my daughter explained to me what had happened. She told me that she was busy preparing supper in the kitchen that afternoon and unfortunately neglected to shut the main front door. Then, at approximately 3pm, two black thugs rushed into the house through the unlocked front door. They were pushing her around and asked her who else was in the house. Terrified, she told them it was just her baby and herself. The attackers then started assaulting my daughter and were so brutal that they even pointed a gun on her 2-yearold child, threatening to shoot the little girl if my daughter did not hand-over all the cash and other valuables kept in the house.
My daughter said that the criminals were so heartless and kept on threatening to kill the baby if she did not hand over all the money kept in the house. My daughter was in a very vulnerable state as she was brutally attacked by these horrible thugs and had no choice but to hand over all the money we had at home. She even gave her last rand that she saved for groceries and school fees for her other kids. After handing over all the money to the thugs within minutes they were gone. The security guard who looks after to the houses on the street said he saw the thugs running away, but when he tried to stop them, they pointed a gun at him and there was nothing he could do as they threatened to shoot him and he was thus powerless. The irony is that we were busy building a security wall in the front of our property to keep us a little safer, as we read all the time in the Laudium Sun about crime, so I thought we must at least build a wall in front, as gone are the days when we can live without high walls and security. We now have to live like prisoners in our own homes, as we cannot depend on the police to protect us. The only solution is perhaps to close off the whole of Laudium with security gates.”
Another resident from Crimson Str, Viren Manilal told the Laudium Sun, “It was so scary to hear about the robbery that took place at Parveen’s home. These brazen thugs even assaulted her daughter just to get money and then threatened to kill the baby. Residents are often attacked on our street and unfortunately many are not talking and not even reporting it to the police, as they are scared and do not trust our local police as these criminals are never arrested and continue to roam freely in our area. The police are not paying attention to the rising number of crimes. We only hear about a few incidents of crime from the Laudium Sun as people are scared to talk. Something needs to be done to curb all the crime if we want to live longer in Laudium, otherwise the residents who have been living here for years will be forced to leave Laudium and let the criminals take over. The security guard that we have on our street is not even armed, thus he was too scared to fight back against the armed thugs who robbed our neighbour. We need security guards who are armed and properly equipped as we have to fight fire with fire.”
Hussain Syed also of Crimson Str added his voice regarding the crime, “The crime in Laudium is really out of control and residents must wake up and fight back against all the crimes happening around us. We are tired of relying on the police and security companies, as they are seemingly all ineffective. Crime is still taking place despite there being a security guard on the street and the many security companies patrolling the area. There has to be a new plan put into place, that is agreed upon by the community, to fight these criminals, as we are alone and do not have the police on our side.”
