Bungling burglar leaves ID

ARTHI GOPI

A BUMBLING burglar in Glenwood may have left with a lot of loot from the latest house he broke into, but he foolishly left behind important items – documents revealing his identity.

Bundled in a plastic bag of dirty clothes left behind by the burglar, who invaded Glenwood resident Rebecca Nicholson’s home last Monday, were parole documents.

And she’s fuming because police took almost a week to get to her to retrieve the evidence.

“I arrived home after work to find my home had been burgled. I think he had the time to rifle through my belongings because, apart from my missing laptop and jewellery, there were also several pieces of clothing missing. He could only have picked them out by going through my things. He even took sentimental pieces such as a beautiful old hat belonging to my grandfather,” said Nicholson.

She called police and a case was opened, with no hope of the burglar being caught.

“However, a few days later when my domestic worker came to clean the house, she found a packet of clothing under my bed that did not belong to me, and immediately called me. I told her I’d look at it when I got home,” she said.

Upon inspecting the “dirty and smelly” packet, Nicholson said she found a small wallet with information inside, including a parole form which prisoners were issued with upon release.

“Apparently he was released from prison two weeks before the break-in, and had been caught for heroin possession. I was quite alarmed and immediately tried contacting the police so they could have the evidence,” she said.

However, after failing to get through to Umbilo police station or the investigating officer of the case on the landline, Nicholson said she had to resort to calling 10111 to get officers to her home to collect the evidence.

“However, neither of the officers wanted to take the clothes or the wallet with information, because they said only the investigating officer could do so.

“When a blade slipped out of the wallet, they asked me to throw it in the bin, and I refused, saying it’s evidence,” Nicholson said.

The next day she tried calling the investigating officer to collect evidence, with no luck.

“This continued for the next few days. There was no answer. Finally I got through to him this past week and he came to collect it on Tuesday. The burglar could have been caught in that time,” she said.

KZN SAPS spokesperson Colonel Thulani Zwane said the officers who arrived at Nicholson’s home after the burglary should have taken the evidence. “They could have taken it and submitted a report saying they had collected it and it would have been sent to the investigating officer.”

He said a complaint could be laid with the police station commander concerned about the officers’ unwillingness to collect evidence.

Zwane said police were investigating and no arrests had been made.