With crime in the Laudium area continuing, especially in the Ext 3 area, residents are still living in fear, saying that they are even afraid to walk out of their homes just to go to the nearby tuckshop, for fear of being mugged.
Residents in Ext 3, say that it is fast becoming a norm to be robbed by armed thugs, whilst
standing outside their homes, walking to a neighbour or even to the nearby tuckshop. Many of the victims are also domestic workers, who work in Laudium and walk daily from the Itireleng area to Laudium and back. Despite the workers not really using the path behind the graveyard to get to Itireleng due to the bush area not being safe, the workers are still being targeted even if they use the supposedly safer route of Bengal Street leading into Kathmandu Street. Also, residents from Itireleng, especially women visiting the Laudium Hospital using Bengal Str, remain targets of criminals and are being robbed on a daily basis, with the local police seemingly not interested in protecting these residents from the armed thugs. In one of the latest incidents of robbery in the area, a woman from Itireleng was robbed this past Tuesday morning (Oct 1) as she was walking on her way back from the Laudium Hospital. Chipo Hore, a Zimbabwian national, told the Laudium Sun that she was robbed by two black males at the corner of Bengal and Kathmandu Streets, and that the thugs grabbed her bag. She said when she tried to resist, they threatened her with a knife resulting in her giving in and letting the thugs get away with her handbag, after which they ran towards the ‘Hill’ which divides Laudium and Atteridgeville.
48-year-old Chipo Hore, detailed, “On Tuesday morning at about 11 o clock, I was on my way back from the Laudium Hospital after collecting my medication. While walking, I was approached by two thugs at the corner of Bengal and Kathmandu Streets. The two thugs between the ages of 20 to 30 came out of nowhere and grabbed my handbag, which contained my medication, money, a Nokia cell phone and my Zimbabwian passport. I desperately tried to hold onto my bag, but the one guy carried on pulling it. Then the other guy took out a knife and pointed it towards me. I got really scared that he would stab me and thought that my life was more important, so I left my handbag. These two thugs then ran off with my bag toward the hill leading into Atteridgeville. I know that these two thugs were following me and attacked me from behind when I got to the corner. I am not worried about the bag which they have taken and the money, but I am worried about my medication and passport that they took. I don’t know what am I going to do without my medication and passport. All I want back is my passport and medication that I just got from the hospital. I am not worried about the money and cellphone they stole.
“Crime in Laudium is out of hand. Now I have to go back to do another passport and I don’t know how I am even going to go back to Zimbabwe because at the border they are going to need my passport. These criminals are so heartless and cruel. After they robbed me, they ran towards Atteridgeville. It looks like this is not the first time they have robbed someone on Bengal Street, and they have experience,” Chipo said dejectedly. After a pause, Chipo added, “I had my passport with me as it was needed by the hospital as identification to get my medication. I did not open a case because the police want to know how the two thugs looked, but I did not see their faces clearly. While being robbed I started screaming and there were other people passing and even a car, but no one bothered to help me. It seems that everyone in the area is afraid of these criminals.” Bengal Street resident, Ramiz Dawood told the Laudium Sun, “People are getting robbed almost every day and night and these criminals use the hill as a hide out and to run away. After robbing people, they run into the hills which go toward Atteridgeville. The Laudium police are not patrolling our area and are not prepared to run into the bush leading into the hills. If they were interested in catching these thieves who are attacking the people living in our area and even those walking through, they would have by now caught them by setting a trap, but clearly the police are just not interested.”
A police officer at the Laudium Police Station who did not want to be named, confirmed to the Laudium Sun that they have been receiving many complaints of robberies committed by pedestrians on pedestrians, with the hill area being a problem concerning crime.