Family assaulted in home invasion

A FIVE-minute home invasion felt like a lifetime for an Effingham Heights family when they were assaulted and robbed by four men on Friday afternoon.

Selvan Chellan, 55, was cleaning the garden with his father, Moonsamy Chellan, 89, a retired production manager. His mother Krishnavani Chellan, 81, and his 16-year-old son were inside.

Both Chellan and his father have disabilities and use walking aids.

He said while in the garden, he noticed a white sedan-shaped Toyota Etios drive toward his house.

“As I turned toward the vehicle, one of the robbers got out of the car and walked towards me. I knew something was not right and I told my father to try to walk into the home. The robber came up to me and held me at gunpoint."

Chellan said two of the robber’s accomplices also got out of the car and ran toward the house.

“I screamed for my mother to alert her but before she realised what was happening, the two robbers had already barged into the house via the kitchen door. My mother was in the kitchen at the time. One of the robbers pulled her thali (marital) chain off her neck and slapped her.”

He said the other robber went to the dining room where his son was.

“He asked my son where the bedrooms were and my son said he did not know. The robber then hit him with the butt of the gun on his chest. The robbers also held up my domestic worker and took her cellphone.”

Chellan said his neighbour, who heard him call for his mother, activated his own alarm to notify the security company.

“My son also somehow managed to press our panic button. The alarm went off and the robbers then fled. I saw the two robbers that were inside the house flee into the vehicle with my mother’s thali and the cellphone.

“The robber who held me at gunpoint and was watching over my father, hit me with the butt of his gun on my head before escaping.”

He said the ordeal lasted less than five minutes.

“But it felt like a lifetime. I was helpless. There was nothing I could do to help my family. My mother is so traumatised and shaken. She is going to see a counsellor to help her deal with the trauma. She constantly cries and does not want to be alone. My father and son are doing well.”

Chellan said the area used to be safe. “Lately, there has been increased criminal activity. Last week another elderly couple was robbed. They seem to be a target.”

He said some residents from the area are discussing hiring a night watchman to patrol the street.

“Our homes are supposed to be our places of peace but we have to live on the edge because of crime. We have to invest so much money to ensure our families are safe,“Chellan said.

Colonel Thembeka Mbele, a provincial police spokesperson, said a case of house robbery was being investigated, adding that no arrests had yet been made.