CCTV, shots thwart robbery
2007-01-26 13:14
Pretoria - Four armed robbers were filmed on closed circuit television while robbing a man in a city driveway.
Sandy Stolz just happened to look up from where he was working at his computer in his house in Newlands, in the eastern parts of the city, when he noticed the robbers at the gate on the closed circuit television screen.
Stolz's brother-in-law had entered the driveway shortly before 22:00, unaware that there were armed robbers in the vehicle behind him.
According to Stolz the men slipped in through the gate behind his brother-in-law. He quickly pressed the panic button.
The alarm went off, but that didn't scare the robbers. They
nearly pulled the gate from its track.
Two of the four robbers stalked the man and held him up with a gun while taking his cellphone, car keys and wallet.
Three children sleeping inside
They also wanted to know whether there was somebody inside the house, to which he answered no.
"Meanwhile, my three children were sleeping inside the house, blissfully unaware of the danger outside their bedroom windows," said Stolz.
Stolz called a police friend, who also called for help.
When Stolz's brother-in-law started shouting, the men ran away.
A neighbour was woken by the alarm and realised what was happening. He shouted at the robbers, who fired two shots at him.
According to Stolz, a neighbour on the other side of the street fired a warning shot, upon which the robbers got into their car and left.
Premonition to install CCTV
"I take off my hat to members of Brooklyn police and the ADT officers who arrived at the scene within five minutes. Well done," said Stolz.
Residents have suffered a spate of armed robberies, in which their homes were plundered and they were terrorised. Several people have died or been seriously assaulted during these incidents.
"I'm thankful for the premonition I had a couple of weeks ago to have closed circuit television installed and to have the electric fence and alarm system repaired," said Stolz.
"Isn't it sad that we have to live like this in the most wonderful country in the world?" he said.