Gran’s home invasion horror
FOR over 45 minutes a Reservoir Hills grandmother sat on the floor with a gun held against her head and a hand over her mouth as a gang of armed robbers ransacked her home.
They then fled with the family’s Porsche Cayenne.
Reliving last Wednesday afternoon’s horror ordeal, the 77-year-old woman said she was also hit on the face.
The gang had derailed the driveway gate and refocused the CCTV cameras before storming the house.
“They made sure to cover their tracks,” said the woman’s daughter, who owns the home. “These were not your average house robbers, these were ‘high-end’ professionals.”
The names of the women are being withheld for safety reasons, as the robbers are still at large.
The grandmother told POST she had been at home with the family’s domestic worker when she heard a loud continuous ‘banging’ sound outside. When she checked she saw six men standing at the driveway gate, with a crowbar and hammer.
“I had first thought my sonin-law had returned home,” she said. “When I looked out over the balcony, I saw these men knocking at the lock of the gate with a long crowbar. I ran downstairs to close the house door but it was too late. In less that a minute they were already at the door.”
The grandmother said one of the men told her, “You want to close the door, we will show you”, before hitting her across the face, causing her to fall to the ground.
“I just remember falling and someone grabbed me by the back of my neck, dragging me to a passageway. All I could feel was pain as I had just had a knee replacement surgery and a spinal operation,” she said. “The next thing a hand was covering my mouth, and a gun placed against my head. All I could do was pray to God to save me and that my daughter does not come home at that moment.”
The grandmother said the first thing the robbers asked for was the location of the CCTV recorder. They began tracing the cord, which led to the box, and ripped it out. After making sure they would not be recorded, five of the armed men fanned out through the house, collecting valuables while one kept guard over her.
Her daughter said the robbers had taken “only exclusive name-brand things, including our bags, clothing, jewellery, sunglasses, watches, as well as home items”.
“They turned the house upside down, taking only the most expensive items.”
She said she had just left home to run errands and go to her business premises nearby when the robbers had struck.
Their domestic worker had run to her, screaming for help.
“My husband and I immediately drove home to find my mother in an utter shocked state on the floor.
“I didn’t even notice my car was gone. It was only a little later that we found it abandoned, about 400m away.”
What happened thereafter made the family more irate, she said, explaining that “countless calls” to their security company proved futile.
“I had pressed the panic button but nobody from their office called us. I tried calling them to find out where their patrol cars were and why no one had contacted me, but their phones just rang.”
Security only pitched up about half an hour later, after the police had arrived.
She added: “Crime is spiralling out of control. We are no longer safe in our homes, which are protected by CCTVs, electric fences, high walls and steel gates. We work hard to attain these belongings only to have them snatched away so easily.”
Police said they were still investigating and no arrests have been made.