Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2014-01-20

Lenasia is being plagued by crime and a “pied piper” is required to root out the scourge affecting residents especially the elderly of the township.

Barely a week after two men brazenly broke into Yusuf (Essopbhai) Varachia’s home, brutally beating him up, stealing a few items and coming back the following day for more, another elderly person has become a victim of the pandemic.   

On January 16th an 87-year-old pensioner was tied up to her bed, during a house robbery on Bangalore Drive in Lenasia South of Johannesburg.

The frail and elderly woman who has been living in the same house for over 30 years said that this was the first time she was robbed. She is cared for by neighbours as she has no children or relatives living close by.

This incident comes on the heels of a string of house robberies which targeted elderly citizens in the Lenasia area. "This goes to show that old people are the targets and are being tormented by these criminals in their own homes," said a concerned resident.

The elderly lady said that she slept at 1am and woke up at 3am, to go to the toilet. As she tried opening the bedroom door, she realised that someone was holding the handle from the other side reported a local newspaper

She recoiled in terror and three men entered the bedroom and tied her up, leaving her hands and arms bruised.

She told them to take everything they wanted and begged them not to harm her.

It is alleged the elderly woman was hit with a weapon on the forehead to keep her quiet. They then covered her face with a blanket where she began to struggle to breathe.

"Please, I can’t breathe…I can’t breathe," pleaded the old lady.

The robbers took jewellery, money and didn’t even spare the earrings she was wearing at the time.

When the robbers left, she managed to untie herself and called her neighbour who alerted other neighbours and the police who arrived promptly according to a neigbour.

"I don’t know why they would want to rob this old lady because she does not have anything not even a television in her house," the neighbour told the paper.

"There were three male suspects. They used the back door to enter the house and carried a screwdriver with them, which they also used to assault the victim," said Lenasia SAPS spokesperson, captain Hector Netshivhodza.

(Twitter: @Faizie143)