Bank accused of leaving client at mercy of robber
Man shot three times by robber claims locked door prevented him from escaping
A BANK stands accused of shutting its doors on a terrified robbery victim — leaving him cornered and shot three times by a gunman.
Now Daniäl Cordier and his former employer, Stanley Becker, who lost R85 000 in the incident, want Standard Bank to take responsibility for forcing the 42-year-old into “a most precarious, vulnerable and lifethreatening position”.
Not only do the pair claim the bank turned its back on Cordier in an emergency, but they have also slammed the Plumstead, Cape Town, branch for having no security guard at its entrance, the scene of the attack in November last year.
The bank has denied all charges, saying it locked its revolving door only after the attack on the advice of the police, who arrived after the shooting. And it claims security at the branch, which has no permanent guard, is “optimum”.
Cordier said the door would not budge when he tried to flee into the bank. He had initially been accosted in the bank’s entrance enclosure. He was shot in the leg a few metres in front of the main revolving door which led into the bank proper.
He said because the revolving door would not open, the gunman — one of four — caught up to him again before cornering him inside the door and shooting him twice before fleeing with his money bag.
“I was trapped,” said Cordier. “I couldn’t get into the bank and the other gunmen were block- ing my path leading away from the door.”
He said that while he struggled with the gunman, who was desperately trying to get the bag out of his hand, he was pushing the door to open it. When it did not open, he tried to pull it towards him, but that did not work either.
“My whole mission was to get into the revolving door, behind that glass. I saw customers on the other side and screamed to them to open the door. I thought: ‘I’m going to die today.’ It was terrifying,” he said.
After the suspects fled, Cordier was attended to outside by an FNB staffer, who arrived with a first-aid box from the branch across the road. Nobody from Standard Bank had approached him by the time paramedics took him away.
The police arrived when the ambulance was leaving.
“I’m angry with the bank,” said Cordier. “It didn’t care about me trying to get in, and even afterwards nobody from the bank bothered to come out to help me.”
But the bank said a staff member had gone outside “to assess the situation” following the shooting, after the police and paramedics had arrived.
Said spokesman Ross Linstrom: “At that point, there was no clarity as to who the victim or perpetrator was, who was armed and who was not.
“Although this incident is extremely unfortunate, Standard Bank also has a duty and care towards the customers and staff already inside the branch. The bank had no information on the nature of the threat, the number of gunmen and what their intentions were.
“About four minutes after the incident, with the victim being attended to by paramedics, the SAPS advised the bank to lock the doors while the crime scene was being secured and for the purpose of getting statements from customers and staff who may have witnessed the incident.”
Linstrom said the revolving door rotated clockwise, unlike most other revolving doors used in non-banking areas.
“If an attempt is made to push the door in an anti-clockwise direction, there will be resistance, and that is where the customer’s perception that he was locked out stems from.”
Linstrom said the bank had “a great deal of sympathy” for Becker and Cordier, but there was no legal basis for any claim against it.
“We carried out a comprehensive investigation into the matter and carefully assessed all aspects of the incident.
“Our investigation concluded that the security measures in place are optimum and within industry standards.”
He said a guard was used only on Fridays because there had been no history of incidents at the branch, only ATM-related card issues, mostly on Fridays.
Becker, 62, who owned a BP service station at the time and
I was trapped. I couldn’t get in and the other gunmen were blocking my path
has banked with the group for 30 years, said: “This act [locking the door] and the evidence of no security enabled the perpetrators to commit the crime, fire three shots at my employee inside the revolving door and allowed the perpetrators to flee the scene untouched with R85 000.
“A reasonable person, once on the premises of a bank, would expect to feel safe and secure,” he said. “In this instance, this was clearly not the case. I wish to reiterate that there was no security in place and, incidentally, the status quo remains.”