Durban — An elderly woman was assaulted during a house robbery in the Durban North area on Thursday.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nqobile Gwala said: “A case of house robbery is being investigated by Greenwood Park. The matter is still under investigation.”
Swift Private Security said that the company had received reports of a home invasion on Deepvale Avenue in Avoca and dispatched multiple officers to the scene.
The company said that on arrival, it was noted that four armed suspects in a grey VW Polo had entered the property and ransacked the home while an elderly woman and her domestic worker were present.
“During the intrusion, an armed response officer from a different security company arrived and confronted the armed suspects, resulting in the officer’s injury and the theft of his firearm and personal belongings,” Swift Private Security said.
“The suspects fled the scene with jewellery and other items. A full inventory will be conducted to determine if anything else was taken.”
Swift Private Security said that a private ambulance was called to attend to the injured armed response officer and the assaulted elderly woman.
The company also reached out to Independent Crisis for trauma counselling for the affected family.
Meanwhile, in August, when Police Minister Bheki Cele released the quarter one crime statistics 2023/24, he said there were more than one thousand fewer counts of carjackings and robberies at non-residential areas in the three months (April to June 2023) of reporting.
However, it remained concerning that robberies at people’s homes were still high.
“We must strengthen policing efforts and work closer with the private security sector and community patrollers to prevent such home invasions where people are meant to be the safest,” Cele said.
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