Crime is certainly on the increase in the neighbouring suburb of Gerhardsville near Erasmia, which is part of Ward 61.
Whilst residents have seen a surge in petty crime recently, especially the theft of motors from remote controlled gates, the recent incident of a serious crime has shocked members of the community, who are now fearing for their lives. Residents in the area are still baffled as to the reason for a shooting incident which has left a family traumatised. This follows a drive-by shooting whereby armed thugs fired several gunshots at the home of the Naidu family this past Saturday night (November 2) just after 8pm. Fortunately, no one was injured and it is not certain if the gunmen travelling in a white Porsche Cayenne, were trying to intimidate the family or had intentions of actually hurting or killing someone from the Naidu family. Shaun Naidu (31) of 5th Avenue, Gerhardsville told the Laudium Sun, “We were having supper on Saturday night as a family and everything seemed normal at the time. While enjoying dinner, all of a sudden we heard loud noises coming from outside. We have two dogs in the house and these dogs ran out to see what was happening and I followed them, but the shooters were gone. Then I checked our CCTV footage and noticed a person whose hand was sticking out from a white Porsche Cayenne and shooting towards our house, whilst the Porsche was moving slowly past our house. I am not sure how many gunshots were fired, but one of the shots shattered one of our windows and another bullet hit our wall. The shooting happened at half past eight in the evening and fortunately none of us were injured. We don’t know what the intentions of these criminals were and what they wanted from us and why were they firing shots at our house. For now we can only suspect that these thugs wanted to rob us, because we cannot think of any other reason for targeting us. We don’t have enemies and we don’t owe anyone any money and we are not involved in anything, so why fire gunshots at our house especially while our family members were all there. After the shooting incident we opened a case of attempted murder and malicious damage to property at the Erasmia Police Station.
The reason we opened a case of attempted murder is that these criminals could have killed one us! What if any of the bullets they fired hit one my family members?” Shaun added, “Over a period, many residents have pleaded for an increase in police patrols and
I am also pleading for an increase in police patrols. We hardly see police vans in our area, as if we are a forgotten community, I just hope this time some senior police official will read our story and intervene as it is time for the police to do something to stop these criminals terrorising our once peaceful area. My family and I are now living very much in fear and are stressed out after the shooting incident. Crime in our area is increasing rapidly and almost every day we hear of something bad happening in our area.
We don’t know whether these criminals will come back and terrorise us. House robberies and break-ins are rife in our area, not forgetting the spate of thefts of motor gates.”
*Recently the Laudium Sun reported on a woman being robbed on Mimosa Ave in Gerhardsville, by three armed thugs travelling in a white VW Polo. We also recently reported on crime committed on three separate plots in one night and the theft of several gate motors.
Pritesh Bhana of the Erasmia CPF, told the Laudium Sun, “The Erasmia CPF is working very closely with the SAPS to curb
crime in the area. We urge residents to report any serious activities to the SAPS and CPF.” Pritesh did not explain what measures were being implemented in curbing crime in the Gerhardsville area or what communication channels have been opened with the community in that area, relating to their concerns.”