'Brave' eManzimtoti dad guards robber for two hours

Share this article: Share Tweet Share Share Share Email Share

Durban - An eManzimtoti father had to wait more than two hours for police to arrive at his home to “collect” a suspect who had attacked his daughter in the early hours of Friday morning. The father, André van Rensburg, managed to overpower the suspect who had broken into his home and threatened his daughter with a knife, but had to keep the suspect in his yard for two-and-a-half hours. His daughter had also bravely tackled the suspect when he came into her room. “It was just after 4am on Friday, and it was raining. Here was the suspect, who we caught, and managed to detain with the help of the local Community Crime Prevention Organisation (CCPO), sitting in my yard in the rain for more than two hours while we waited for the police to arrive. “All the police had to do was get here to collect the suspect and arrest him. I was so frustrated, and so disappointed in our police,” said Van Rensburg.

The family had been asleep in their home in Middleton Road, Winklespruit, south of eManzimtoti, when a suspect got into their home by breaking their burglar guards at about 4am.

Van Rensburg’s daughter, Chante, 20, had been awake in bed at the time.

“I heard a noise and this man was in my room. He had a knife and told me to keep quiet. But I shouted for my dad and shoved him towards my bedroom door and he tripped on this little wooden barrier I keep at the door. I took my hockey stick which was nearby and hit him with it and by then my dad had come to my room,” she said.

The suspect was believed to have taken a knife from the kitchen of the house to use as a weapon.

Van Rensburg said when he heard his daughter scream, he ran to her room.

“I got injured when I wrestled him. I got stabbed on my chest and arm,” he said.

He managed to overpower the suspect and at that point the local CCPO members arrived.

“The CCPO members apprehended him and cuffed him while we waited for the police I also could not immediately go to the hospital to get medical help. I also don’t know what would have happened if the CCPO had not arrived. I would have had to wrestle that guy for maybe another two hours waiting for the police,” he said.

When the officers finally did arrive, Van Rensburg said they could not give any clear answer why it took them so long to respond. “It was very early in the morning, so I don’t know what else they were doing,” he said.

When The Independent on Saturday asked provincial SAPS spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Thulani Zwane what the reason for the delay was, he said they would look into the matter, and forwarded details to the Van Rensburgs on how to take their complaint further.

“I was advised to phone the station commander on Monday to understand what the delays were. I was told that if I don’t get a satisfactory answer, I must e-mail a complaint through,” said Van Rensburg.

CCPO committee member George Snodey said they responded to the call from the Van Rensburgs within five minutes.

“This suspect had been in another complex 30 minutes prior to this incident, but was disturbed by the resident, and fled. She managed to get a clothing description before he got out of the flat. The suspect then went 100m up the road and broke into the Gordon unit. This suspect is well-known to SAPS and CCPO, having already been in prison on three occasions for housebreaking, so it was a relief for us to arrive and see it was him who was eventually arrested,” said Snodey in a Facebook update.