Another week and yet more complaints about crime in the Laudium/Erasmia area have been received, with one of the latest crimes reported to the Laudium Sun for stats purposes, being in the seemingly crime-ridden area of Laudium Ext 3.
This follows thieves involved in breaking into the home of Raylene Padayachi of Kashmir Crescent, Ext 3, Laudium. The incident, which occurred this past Monday (Sept 29)at around midnight, while the family was asleep, has left the family traumatised, with residents living in the area, once more calling on authorities to close off access to the neighbouring Itireleng informal settlement and that going to the hills leading into Atteridgeville. Residents say that there should only be one access from Itireleng leading to the Laudium Hospital, but that all other accesses into Ext 3 should be fenced or walled off, in order to curb crime in the area.
Raylene, told the Laudium Sun, “We were asleep at around midnight when a thief or thieves broke into our house through the front door. They burnt something inside, which filled the house with smoke, which I believe was meant to make us unconscious, so that they could steal our belongings, without being confronted by any one of us. The thieves packed several electronics, including a game console, projector, DVD player and other items from the lounge into a large bag. Fortunately, my husband woke up because of the smoke in the house. When the thieves heard my husband screaming, one of them ran into my daughter’s room. My husband confronted him and was hit hard during the struggle, but somehow the thief managed to escape through the window of my daughter’s room. This was really frightening and traumatizing for all of us, because we no longer feel safe at all in this area. I thank God that no one was harmed and it seems at this stage that non of our belongings were stolen, but the experience was terrifying. We are not certain how many thieves were involved, but judging by the amount of items that were already packed into the bag, ready to be stolen, it could be that there was another thief involved perhaps even waiting outside for the first bag to be sent to him, with another bag to follow, had my husband not woken up. Crime in Laudium is too much and almost every day we hear of incidents of crime on our street and in the surrounding areas. We need better protection and patrols from the law-enforcing agencies, because we believe we are no longer safe in Laudium.”
Aamir Shahzad of Kashmir Crescent in Laudium Ext 3, told the Laudium Sun, “I heard about the house breaking incident on our street and it’s very scary. Our area is no longer safe. Thieves are freely entering our area at any time and they are using very unusual methods to break into our homes. The crime situation is in a really bad state and if we don’t do something to make ourselves safe, it will be too late. There must be more police patrols, especially at night, so that criminals can fear the police. We rely heavily on our police force and if they cannot protect us, then who will? The authorities also need to close off the open areas leading into the squatter camp and the hills.”
Merbin Munsamy, also of Kashmir Crescent in Laudium Ext 3, told the Laudium Sun, “On our street, too much crime is happening and many of the incidents are not even being reported. This is really frightening because if crimes go unreported, the criminals just go on a spree. We need better police patrols and strong leadership so that Laudium can be safe again. We want protection against both criminals and drugs.”
