Robber lies dead in driveway of home

Robber lies dead in driveway of home
January 10 2012 at 11:00am

Tiro Ramatlhatse

CRIME DOESN T PAY: The dead suspect near the driveway where his accomplice was waiting in the getaway car. Pictures: Tiro Ramatlhatse

Yusuf Omar

A ROBBER was shot dead by police in Cresta yesterday during a house robbery gone wrong.

A 16-year-old boy and another teenager were on the property during the incident.

The robber lay in the front of the driveway dead on his back in a pool of blood, his arms stretched out. The man, who can’t be named until his next-of-kin are notified, was just a metre from the driveway exit, where his accomplice had waited in the getaway car, when he was gunned down.

He lost his life trying to steal a 42-inch LG plasma screen television, which he had dropped in the driveway moments before his death.

“At around 11.30am, police received a complaint of suspicious activity in the area. On arrival, they found a white Mercedes-Benz parked outside the house.


GETAWAY CAR: The Mercedes-Benz that was to be used by two criminals who were involved in a house robbery in the Cresta area.

Tiro Ramatlhatse
“When police approached the vehicle, the suspect reversed. The other suspect then came outside the house holding a plasma screen.

“Police told the suspects to lie down, but they refused to co-operate. The police saw one of the suspects grabbing something in the car, so they shot him,” said police spokeswoman Pinky Tsinyane.

The accomplice fled the scene in an old white Mercedes-Benz, but came under heavy fire from police officers about 100m down the road. The police hit two tyres, bringing the car to a halt. The thug fled on foot, evading a police helicopter and back-up police.

“We are still looking for the second suspect. He is believed to have the firearm,” said Tsinyane.

“There is a manhunt under way. If the public have any information regarding this incident, please contact the Linden police station,” she said.

The house on the corner of San Michelle Drive and Mountain View Road is not an easy target.

The spiked, steel perimeter fence has barbed wire on top. Burglar bars are on all the windows, and steel gates reinforce the doors. The electric motor front gate appeared to have been knocked off its hinges and removed.

Tsinyane said a 16-year-old boy and another teenager were on the property during the burglary.

“(The thugs) threatened the 16-year-old boy with death before robbing him of his cellphone,” she said.

“I was so scared when the man ran through my garden,” said Maria Netto, who owns a nursery school nearby.

“I heard shooting, then he jumped over my fence and into the next garden. It’s so dangerous. I can’t even let my children play outside,” she said.

Attorney Raymond Eastes, another resident, was furious. “Show this to (former president FW) De Klerk.

“Let’s bring back section 49 (of the Criminal Procedure Act, abolished in 1994) – the right to protect oneself.”
( The Star)