CrimeWatch report for 1st February No 1

FROM: Ronel Richter-Herbert. 2 Lever Street, Kalk Bay.

On Saturday 30 January my husband and I were in our house
preparing dinner for guests. I usually leave my laptop inside the front
door, in the hallway, so that I can just pick it up when I leave for work in
the mornings. I went into the dining room to collect some work papers when I
noticed a movement in the hallway. I didn’t think anything of it, as I
assumed it was my husband. When I came out of the dining room, I wanted to
put the folder with work papers in the side pocket of my laptop bag, only to
find that the laptop, bag and all, had disappeared.

My husband looked outside and saw that a potplant had been knocked off the wall of the steps leading down to our front yard. It appears as if someone had scaled the wall
around our property, had looked into the house, seen the laptop and taken
his chance. Our neightbour later said that a woman had seen a man carrying a
laptop and had pursued him, but he ran away. I would appreciate it if this
woman could contact me at 021 788 8104 and give me her details. I reported
the matter to the Mountain Men and also phoned the police emergency number,
and today I reported it at Muizenberg Police Station. This is a big wake-up
call for us, as we always leave our front door open, assuming our wall is
too high to scale and our security lock on the front gate prohibits anyone
from entering. We will certainly beef up our security now.