Despite the many security gates closing off streets all over Erasmia and Laudium, intended to keep criminals out of the area, criminals continue to expend their larcenous efforts to gain access to homes in these areas.
In one of the latest crimes reported to the Laudium Sun by residents living in the area, a home on Erasmia’s Steynberg Street was broken into whilst the family was inside and asleep. The house burglary which took place in the early hours of last Tuesday (November 19) has left the family shocked and now living in fear. Vijee Gounder (62) who together with her family rents the Erasmia home, explained further to the Laudium Sun what transpired on the Tuesday morning. “My family and I went to bed on Monday night as normal, after making sure that all the doors leading to inside the house were locked and all the windows were closed. Despite the hot weather, we make sure that the windows are closed because of the high crime in the area. In the early hours of the morning, I heard some strange noise which woke me up, but then the noise stopped, so thinking that I was imagining, I went back to sleep, after looking at the time which was just after 2am.
However in the morning when I woke up and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the family, I felt a strange breeze coming inside and when I looked towards the window I noticed that the window was broken. I then also noticed that the electric kettle was missing. That is when I was shocked as I realized that we had a break-in during the night, while we were asleep. I immediately yelled for my son and after he ran into the kitchen, we walked through the house only to notice that the thieves had walked throughout our house and that they even came into my bedroom, as items from the room were also missing. I believe that there must have been more than one thief inside our house, taking into consideration the amount of items that were stolen. The thieves managed to steal a number of valuable items, including two laptops, an iron, kettle and also computer plugs. The fact that only our kitchen window was broken indicated to us that these thieves came in and went out from the kitchen window. This burglary has left us feeling vulnerable and anxious. We are now so scared and I keep on asking myself countless questions such as ‘what if these thieves come back and what if they harm my son one day? This was a very frightening experience for us and we keep on thinking what would have happened if anyone of us would have woken up while the thieves were inside the house. I am usually a light sleeper and I cannot understand how come I did not hear any other noises that morning. I am sure the one time when I got up after hearing that one noise was the time that the thieves were inside the house which was around 2am. I am just glad that none of us got hurt, but it is depressing to think how we are going to replace the goods stolen, as we do not have the money to replace all these items immediately. We have a monthly budget and now we will have to sacrifice buying something else to replace one of the items each month, that was stolen. It is very disturbing to think that thieves can just walk into our home and take our possessions without any regard of how hard we have worked, to acquire those items.” Vijee concluded by saying, “Crime is affecting all of us in the neighbourhood and it would be ideal if we could have security guards on our street, patrolling day and night, so that thieves cannot enter our yards easily. But, due to financial constraints it would cost more money which we cannot afford at this moment. Right now we are trying to fix our electric fence. Maybe it will help prevent easy access to our home. It will not be easy to forget about this incident since it is still like a fresh wound. This break in shows that Erasmia is still not safe despite the many security gates put up recently all over and the number of private security guards seen all over. I cannot understand how come these thieves were not even spotted by the police who are supposed to be patrolling the area. We have reported this incident to the police and I just wish that these heartless thieves will get caught. My heart will be at peace knowing that they have been found.
Therefore if anyone saw something strange in the early hours of last Tuesday morning or if those who have CCTV cameras can check their footage, it will be appreciated. They are definitely most welcome to come forward and give us a heads-up.”