Save Yourself

It is your duty

2009-09-15T23:58:00.001-07:00

This lady was caught yesterday after she “visited” several homes in Marina Da Gama. Armed with an almost new Woolworths shopping trolley, she entered several gardens and homes and helped herself to a whole trolley full of items, including a set of matching gents and ladies watches, rings, clothing, cell phone, etc.

She explained to us that everything that was in the trolley belonged to her, despite that fact that she could not provide any information about certain items, like the pin for “her” phone for example or which gym she frequented with “her” gym card and why she had a wetsuit that belonged to one of the gentlemen on the scene.

When she was confronted in someone’s yard, she told them that she was looking for her dog and that she had permission to be there. Clearly an old hand that these crimes of opportunity, she had a story for every one of “her possessions”.

It irks me that she was caught last week in a different part of the Marina and “her possessions” returned to their rightful owner, who then refused to lay criminal because she got her stuff back. If there are no consequences for the criminals actions (i.e. no charges are laid, no jail time, etc) this type of crime will continue to escalate. PLEASE make the effort to lay charges against criminals!

New threat in the Cape Town Area

2009-09-09T02:56:00.000-07:00

It seems that we South Africans really are easy pickings for the more experienced “international” criminals. It began a couple of months ago with a large group of badies who were hitting Zwanswyk (near Constantia in the Cape) almost every night. It was a mystery how they would just “disappear” into thin air. They would strike and the various armed response service providers were summoned and by the time they arrived, the bad guys had simply vanished.

These badies were tracked by the (now infamous) Mountain Men over the top of the Vlakkenberg (just behind Silver Mine) and down to the informal settlement in Hout Bay. A huge collaboration ensued and various SAPS departments as well as the Hout Bay Neighbourhood watch were included in the proposed “bust”. Unfortunately, there was a leak in one of the SAPS offices and the badies got wind of the operation and things didn’t go as planned – they got away.

A week later a more controlled bust was successfully executed and about 35 perpetrators were captured. It turned out that these badies are ex military guys from Namibia. At the time we believed that most of the gang had been caught but they are much more organized than we expected and there are a number of “cells” still active.

Yesterday 7 more perps were captured but there are definitely more in operation. Their “hits” are very well organised, often 2 hits occurring simultaneously. They are extremely mobile and are usually dropped off in the target area and then picked up when the job is done. They are active in Hout Bay, Klapmutz, Zwanswyk, Durbanville and possibly one or two more areas at the moment.

They work in groups of 3 to 4 guys, “hitting” 4 to 5 houses a week in each area. They are targeting items such as laptops, cell phonse, wallets and jewellery, which are easy to carry. Their MO seems to be evolving and they have started using terror type tactics, like painting their faces with a white substance and taunting the victims.

Last week they attacked a home from 2 different sides at the same time and even though the occupants fought them off with edged weapons and sticks, they did not flee. They remind for quite a long time threatening and taunting the residents.

These guys are determined and very organized so please stay alert.

I'm baaaack....

2009-08-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I am sorry that I have been away for so long - there is no excuse for it so I won't even bother! Thanks a ton to my loyal followers who have not deserted me. So much has happened in the menatime. Lots more crime and lts more criminals.

chucky has been pretty quiet - he still sells drugs and he free but I think he had a bit of a fright because he now keeps a low profile and his black truch is mostl not in working order.

Oswald Philander, who is a well know bad guy in our area has finally been arrested (again) and is in prison awaiting trail for murder. He has been arrested many times before but always managed to have an alibi or get off on a technicality. hopefully this tme he will be away fo ra long time.

I have been following a really interesting group of people (bad guys (and girl)) whi I will introduct you to next time.

Have a wonderful women's day tomorrow.

Sick, Lame or Lazy?

2009-01-23T09:31:00.000-08:00

The other day on my way to a meeting, as I was pulling into my parking (there were a few around), this lady came driving into the parking lot and without much ado, pulled into the space which is SUPPOSED to be reserved to people who are movement impaired AND have a sticker stating this fact. She exited her car and without so much as a limp or a wobble, strolled to her apparent appointment with no regard for the sign or the reason for the sign.

All I can to this lazy lady and others who use these reserved parking spaces is that I sincerely hope that you never ligitimately need that parking space and if you do, that someone like you doesn't take your spot.

Justice has been served, NOT!

2009-01-17T01:51:00.000-08:00

I know I have spoken about how much I hate peds already but here I go again...

Grrrrrr, I am really upset that convicted paedophile John Creasey is back on the streets in his home town of Plumstead after serving 4 of his 6 year sentence! This lowest of the low had been stalking, photographing and sexually assaulting young boys for more than 25 years before he was finally prosecuted and put in jail. Yet he was convicted on only the few charges he pleaded guilty to; nine charges of indecent assault on young boys and for the possession of the largest amount of child pornography ever confiscated in the Western Cape.

Creasey was dismissed from St. Joseph's College in Rondebosch (Cape Town) in 1995. He had been teaching there and taking children on hikes and running a photographic club when a parent brought it to the headmaster's attention that his son had been molested by Creasey.

The Headmaster of St. Joseph's went to Creasey's home and managed to get an admission from him. He then immediately suspended Creasey and informed the Western Cape education department of his actions.

Yet the same year, Creasey was hired as a teacher at Grassy Park High School. When he was arrested for sodomising an 8 year old boy, the students at the school were told that Creasey was in hospital. The headmaster of the school refused to be interviewed by a crew from Special Assignment while they were gathering evidence for their story. The full story can be read here: http://196.35.74.234/specialassignment/20050118script.html.

To all the little boys who will be approached by this monster in the future because we as a society have failed to keep him away from you, I humbly apologise and I am sad with all my heart. I can only hope your parents are smart enough to educate you about safety with strangers and setting personal boundaries.

Dula Purpose

2009-01-15T09:53:00.000-08:00

This tool was specifically developed and "manufactured" for breaking car windows allowing the carrier to acquire items in the victim's car without paying for them. It serves a dual purpose though, the second purpose being much more ominous than smashing a car window; that of an sharp weapon.

This "tool" was taken from the owner during an arrest in the Lakeside area in Western Cape.

Beware the Magic Man

2009-01-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

About 5 years ago, we attended the Hermanus Whale festival with a group of kids ranging from about 8 to about 15 years of age. We travelled there in a VW Combi and much to the disgust of the older kids, someone had brought along a Rolf Harris CD and we and had a blast singing "The Court of King Caractacus" on the top of our lungs all the way there. (I noted that even the older kids sang along.)

During the day, one of the kids started to play up and wanted to go home and within the space of an hour he had turned from this happy go lucky 13 year old into an otherwise little person who seemed hell bent on ruining everyone's day.

He became sullen and quiet and all he wanted was to go home. We couldn't understand this transformation and he and I spent most of the day in the Wimpy, away from the other kids so as not to ruin their day. Everyone was quite subdued on the way home and we were not sure if it was because of the boy's demeanour of whether it was because they were all totally exhausted.
It wasn't until 3 years later that I found out what had caused the transformation of that little boy that day. This is his story as he told it to me.

"A friend of mine knew this cool guy who was a magician and he asked me if I wanted to meet him. I was very excited and of course I said yes! Which 11 year old doesn't want to meet a real live magician? So my friend brought him to my house. He was very interesting and he and my mom hit it off right away and later became good friends. He lived quite close by and while my mom was a single mother, who struggled to make ends meet, "*magic man" lived in Marina da Gama (Cape Town) in a fantastic house and had lots of gadgets and toys and I loved going there.
He was lots of fun and a very nice guy and he soon gained the trust of my mother. He began teaching me and my friends magic tricks and he let me work with him as an apprentice and even paid me. After about 2 months, he started touching me (sexually).

<> this story is not about what sexual predators do so I will skip to the next part of the story.

Then a few months later "magic man" introduced us to a friend of his called Jay. Jay and my mother also became good friends. He was married but he kept asking me if he could photograph me without my clothes on. He freaked me out and I found him really gross, so I avoided him every time he came to our house or "magic man's house. I think they used to "work" together.

The "fiddling" went on for 6 months before I worked up the courage to tell my mom. She phoned the police and laid a complaint. They asked me a few questions then went away. I never went to court and I don't know what happened but when I asked my mom if anything had transpired, she told me that she heard that they (the police) had taken his ID and passport away.

* I have not used the magician's real name because he was never convicted and other the the the boy's story and the that of one of his friends who found himself in the same position but did not have the courage to tell, there is no proof of these terrible incidents. The young man who told me this story is 19 years old now and just wants to forget about "magic man" and his twisted friend Jay.

In my opinion, the very worst criminals are those that hurt little children and top of my list are adults that sexually prey on kids. Beware of this magician, he is still out there and could magically take away the innocence of your little boy.

Smashproof?

2009-01-05T02:31:00.000-08:00

I have often wondered how effective the "smash proof" film on a car window really is. Last week while walking along Boyes Drive (between Muizenberg and Kalk Bay), I came across a car (which incidentally looked exactly like mine ) that seems to have passed the smash test with flying colours.
As you can see from the photos, someone was pretty intent on smashing the window which held up very well. I took a second photo of the marks left in the window rubber which lets us know that the blows were reasonably hard. The windows withstood around 50 blows.
I obviously don't know what implement/weapon was used to strike the window and results will most definately vary based on the weapon, but I am quite sure that the owner of the vehicle was thankful that they had reinforcement on their car windows.

Everyone Counts

2009-01-03T10:36:00.000-08:00

There are stupid laws all over the world like this one from Bloemfontein (South Africa) where young people wearing bathing suits are prohibited from sitting less than 12 inches apart.
- In Ohio, it is against state law to get a fish drunk
- It’s an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside down
- It’s illegal for a cab in the City of London to carry rabid dogs or corpses
- In France, it’s forbidden to call a pig Napoleon
- In Vermont, women must obtain written permission from their husbands to wear false teeth

Like it or not, everything we do is influenced by the law. What I find interesting though is that most of us are not conscious of the laws we obey because, we just do and never think about it. That's what we were taught by the people who influenced our growing up, parents, teachers, etc.

As a rule, we are much more aware of the laws that we break and we often feel the need to justify breaking them. It is becoming easier to break laws and justify our actions because of the lack of consequence that is becoming more prevalent in our society. The feeling of helplessness and anger at all the violence and crime also contributes to our own law breaking.

The sad thing is that we are teaching our kids that its ok to break those "little" laws and do pretty much anything as long as you can justify it: - copy that CD or DVD... because the price is too high and the record companies are making a fortune; or go through the red light... Because EVERYONE does it . What you are teaching your kids is that's it's ok to break the rules as long as you have a good reason.

We might not like the law and yes, there are some really stupid ones but we need to obey the laws of our country and teach our children to respect them.

Who are you?!?

2008-11-12T22:00:00.000-08:00

"Excuse me Sir, do you know it is illegal to drink in public"
"Who are You?"
"I am a concerned citizen who is wondering why you are drinking in public."
"What are you going to do about it??"
"Well, I am going to take a photo of you because you are breaking the law."

So then the "gentleman" turns his back and keeps drinking and I wait patiently until his curiosity gets the better of him and he turns around to see if I am still there and SNAP. As a good friend of mine always says "het jou katvis".

I then asked him if the blue WV Golf that he was leaning against was his car, to which he replied in the negative but as I was getting ready to take a photo of the car anyway, his friend came running over and asked why I was taking a photo of his car. I explained that it was a way to track his friend and then he got quite aggressive and started to threaten me. I hopped into my car and waved politely as I drove off.

Cell phones with cameras come in very handy and I use mine whenever I see someone breaking the law or something that looks suspicions, it's one of my favourite "weapons".

Meet Chucky

2008-11-06T22:19:00.001-08:00

There is a bad guy who lives in our neighbourhood. In the interest of anonymity, lets call him Chucky. I first saw Chucky about 3 months ago while I was waiting at a red light. My lane was the right turn lane to get onto the highway. This matt black (looks like it was painted with a roller and a can of double velvet) double cab truck with very dark tinted windows came racing down the left lane, cut right in front of the person in the front and went through the red light. He had an armed response sticker on the side of his truck, which at that point could possibly have explain the haste. But once I got onto the highway, I passed the black truck, who had slowed down considerably and seemed to be in no particular hurry.

After some "enquiries" I found out his name and address and that he is a well known drug dealer in our area. The number plates on Chucky's truck are false and he uses that truck as a place for young girls in the neighbourhood to hide in while they get high, among other things. Armed response stickers - what a great idea for cover. It allows Chucky to park his car for long periods of time without anyone getting in the least suspicious. At the moment, he deals mostly from the parking lot outside Pick 'n Pay and from the train station and often has drug parties at his house. He seems to relocate quite a bit but has recently moved back into a house where he previously resided , I believe that it is his mom's house.

I am sure that Chucky, just like many other bad guys around think that they are invisible, well newsflash Chucky; we are watching you.

The Amazing Race

2008-11-06T09:51:00.000-08:00

The human race is nothing short of amazing. We can live in both extremes of the weather - Azizia in Northern Africa where temperatures reach 66 °C (150 F) as well as Eureka, Nunavut, Canada where the daily average temperature is −19.7 °C (remember, this the average temperature, it actually sometimes get much colder). As humans we are able adapt to the harshest conditions - think about the world wars... Bombs, blackouts, concentration camps, abstract poverty and depression.

Not only do humans adapt to just about anything, more than that, harsh conditions become part of our everyday lives. We complain about the effects of these circumstances but most of us learn to live with them and thrive just as we do when there is no adversity.

The crime in South Africa has escalated over the past 10 years to point where it often feels like we are at war, one that even the politician have admitted we are loosing. But crime is not only expanding on our continent, many other countries around the world are beginning to feel the effect that drugs are having on our youth. Taking away their inhibitions and allowing them to "justify" their behaviour.

Crime is here to stay and we are all adapting, slowly. Putting walls up, installing alarms... and becoming more aware. Crime sucks but it very much a part of our lives now and to borrow a quote from a very famous gentleman (or should that be lady?), Mr. Pieter Dirk Uys we need to "Adapt or die".