Victim laments vicious Bible group attack

Almost two years have passed since a Bible study group was savagely attacked in a Berario, Randburg, house. Yet the police have still not apprehended any suspects despite being in possession of a significant amount of evidence.

A stolen getaway car was abandoned in the driveway, live rounds that fell from a firearm were found scattered at the house’s gate, and a car stolen from the home was recovered a day later in Alexandra.

In addition, two of the three perpetrators wore neither masks nor gloves during their attack on nine adults on April 26, 2010.

Five members of the study group were pistol-whipped and left with severe head injuries. One man’s hearing aid, worth R10 000, was smashed and he had to receive 17 staples in his head to close his wounds.

A female victim recently required surgery as a result of the attack, and another victim suffers panic attacks when entering a driveway alone at night.

Jenny Loader, in whose home the attack took place, has told The Star that the last correspondence the group had with the police was on September 29, 2010. It was an SMS stating that the case had been assigned to a new police officer.

Loader has decided to come forward with their plight after reading about the Talmage family, who have been hit by crime attacks over five years – also without any arrests.

“We empathise with the Talmage family. We are just one of thousands of victims who have fallen through the cracks,” said Loader. “We don’t want to point fingers, but we gave the police what they asked for. We are disappointed that the police are so overwhelmed.”

Loader recalled numerous delays in their case.

First, the captain in charge of the case was shot in another incident.

The next officer assigned fell sick, and the case was reassigned.

On the fateful night, two men sneaked up to the house just after 7pm when one of the women in the study group arrived.

One man went into the house, where Loader was sitting with two of her guests.

The second man, outside, bound Loader’s husband Kevin and the woman with cable ties, before bringing them inside and robbing them.

A third member of the gang had driven a white Mercedes into the driveway. But the arrival of another couple in their car blocked the getaway car. One of the thieves pistol-whipped the couple and dragged them into the house.

Another couple arrived, and the same treatment was meted out to them.

One of Loader’s neigh-bours, who had heard the commotion, alerted a local security company.

The men fled in the final car to arrive with two handbags and some items of jewellery.

Fairland police spokesman Constable Michael Kgatle confirmed Loader’s suspicions that the case was closed because the suspects could not be found.

But, he said, police had kept the fingerprints, and the case could be reopened if a suspect was ever matched to them.

“We have moved past it,” said Loader. “We are over it. We are all still here. No one has emigrated. We are now more conscious and cautious.

“It’s just sad that that it ended like that. But maybe it wasn’t serious enough. No one was shot. We were just another house robbery.” - The Star