By Nikita Chiniah
An Arena Park pensioner together with her daughter-in-law and her three-year-old great grandson are lucky to be alive after they were recently accosted by armed robbers during a house robbery.
The 74-year-old woman and her 54-year-old daughter-in-law were held at gunpoint and tied with cable ties while their home was ransacked on Thursday, 7 July at 9pm.
According to the homeowner, Lenny Pillay, he was at work when he received a call from his family to inform him of the robbery.
He said: “When I got home, I immediately watched the CCTV footage and found that four men scaled over my wall and booted the side door open. My family told me that they were watching TV when the men stormed in. The men held them at gunpoint. My mother and wife were thereafter tied with cable ties. Fortunately my grandson was unharmed. They took an undisclosed amount of cash, jewellery and other items. They took 10 minutes to grab as much stuff as they could and made-off with our house keys and remotes.”
Pillay encourages the community to be more vigilant as crime has gone out of control in the area. He thanks members of Chatsworth SAPS for their quick response.
“I have been living here for the past 22 years and this is the first time that this has happened to us. I would like to encourage residents to be part of the community policing forums, work with police and look out for each other. My family only managed to contact police after the incident had unfolded because no one was aware that a house robbery was in progress. What is sad is that our law favours criminals more than the honest citizens. I have seen many cases where suspects are arrested and thereafter given reasonable bail and they are on the streets again to attack the vulnerable. If we have to shoot an armed robber then it becomes vigilantism and we have to go up and down to court for a case, yet criminals are accosting families and walking freely. Our laws need to change as I believe that there is a relaxation in the law for criminals,” Pillay concluded.
