Bogus deliveryman holds domestic worker at gunpoint
A robber made off with thousands of Rand's worth of valuable goods, after he tricked his way into a Sunward Park family’s home.
He pretended to be a delivery man.
A domestic worker told the police that she was home alone on Monday morning, April 11, when the robber parked his white bakkie outside the house and rang the doorbell several times.
The man standing outside the house holding a document told her that he was sent to deliver a letter for the owner of the house.
Believing him to be legitimate, the domestic worker opened the garage door, allowing him access to the house on Liefland Road.
According to Boksburg SAPS spokesperson, Lieut Kwendzakwakhe Ngobese, by this time the man pulled out a gun and covered her face with a T-shirt
He then helped himself to the house owner’s food supply and other valuables.
A case of house robbery was registered and police are still hunting the robber.
* This is not the first attack of its kind in Boksburg in the last couple of years.
In October 2013, armed robbers lied their way into the home of a Parkdene resident by pretending to be contractors.
One of the robbers reportedly arrived at the gate just before 10am, and told the domestic worker that he was sent by the owner of the house to get the measurements of the property.
The unsuspecting worker let the crook into the home of her employer after he claimed he was sent by the home owner.
All of a sudden, three other men joined him.
They threatened the worker with a firearm and tied her with a rope before stealing electrical appliances and fleeing the scene in a white van.
*Also, on Friday, October 23, 2013, four armed men forced their way into a house on Hofmeyer Street, Boksburg South, and robbed a domestic worker of her boss’s electrical appliances.
It is still unclear whether these incidents are linked, but police believe that this is a determined gang of robbers who need to be locked up.
Ngobese, therefore, wants the public, domestic workers in particular, to be on their guard if they are approached by strangers.
“I urge members of the public, especially domestic workers, to be wary of strangers who identify themselves as contract workers or deliverymen,” he said.
“The best way for domestic workers to identify who’s at the door or gate, would be to phone their employers to verify an appointment, before deciding whether to allow strangers into the premises.
“If still in doubt, they should call the police.” -@FanieFLK
