Family sees red over stolen white roses
Two men have been caught by a surveillance camera stealing a pot containing a rose bush from the yard of a Durban home.
|||Durban - Two men have been caught by a surveillance camera stealing a pot plant from the yard of a Durban home.
The Johnson family, of Rippon Crescent, Sherwood, thought they had been victims of an April Fool’s prank until they viewed the footage. Now they are hoping someone might come forward to identify the thieves.
The concrete pot, valued at R400, had been in their front yard, alongside the driveway wall.
Homeowner, Caroline Johnson, said she and her husband had been leaving for church on Friday night. While waiting for the driveway gate to close, her husband noticed in the rear view mirror, that the pot plant was missing.
Johnson’s son-in-law, Donavan Vere, viewed the CCTV footage on Sunday night.
“It was taken on Friday night; We thought it might be kids messing around. Even though my friend went to her car to fetch something, this did not deter them from stealing the pot plant,” said Johnson.
“The thieves had the nerve to place a newspaper on the floor of their boot to keep it clean,” said Johnson.
“I cannot get over the fact that people can do something like this. We hope someone can tip us off. Is the van stolen?
“This could lead to bigger things. I love gardening. I had a beautiful white rose in the pot which I took time and effort in growing,” Johnson said. Three minutes of black and white footage showed a Toyota Fortuner stopping in the driveway at 9.30pm. The driver alighted and walked towards the pot plant.
He pulled at it, but then looked up to see Johnson’s friend walking down the driveway.
He then climbed back into the Fortuner and waited for the woman to return to the house.
Oblivious to the presence of the Fortuner and man, she went back inside. The man was then seen fiddling with his boot, apparently talking to someone inside the Fortuner.
The boot opened and another man got out of the car. Both men, wearing shorts, T-shirts and flip flops, then walked toward the plant.
They hastily carried the heavy pot plant to the car and put it in the boot before reversing the Fortuner and driving away.
“My 5-year-old granddaughter sobbed; when she saw the video. She was with her 2-year-old brother and mother when men armed with guns held them up inside their home in Sherwood in October,” Johnson said.
Stills from the footage have been posted by Vere on the Combined Community Watch and Sydenham Community Facebook pages, asking the public to come forward and help identify the men.
Zaheera Suleman commented on the post: “The exact same thing happened to my mum on Friday night in Hartley Road, Overport. Same type of pot as well.”
Johnson has reported the matter telephonically to the Sydenham police station.
Daily News
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