Police must act on smash-and-grab thieves

By The NewsDay | Dec. 8, 2012 | 4 Min read

I was attacked this week on Monday at the corner of Kirkman Road and Harare Drive.

Opinion by Ropafadzo Mapimhidze

A thief broke the passenger window of my car, which shattered on the car seats, and made off with my handbag containing lots of money, my camera and other valuable items.

He sprang off like a Commonwealth athlete leaving me in a state of shock. I just froze as I helplessly watched him disappear into the darkness.

I immediately went to Mabelreign Police Station, from where I was then referred to the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Dog Section not far from the scene of the crime.

There were two dogs assigned for this crime, but only one was used. One dog managed to retrieve a handbag which was not mine. This meant another woman had suffered a similar fate at this junction that day.

The police told me to go home and they would go back to the area the following day. But I decided to go back the following day after realising that there was a shortage of transport to ferry the cops to the scene.

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One of the policemen found my plastic cards, but my metal identity card and driver’s licence were nowhere in sight. The dogs scoured the area near Tynwald Primary School, but they did not recover a thing.

“The thieves normally throw away the bag and other items after taking the money and this is an unusual incident. Maybe the thief took the bag home,” said one of the cops.

As I was negotiating to have the window replaced at a leading glass company, a woman called from her maize plot around the school and said she had found some of my drugs, metal identity card, driver’s licence and business cards.

I was so grateful to get these items back for the loss of these had worried me the most.

Pictures of my children that I kept in my wallet were strewn around the area. I picked them with a heavy heart. My handbag and wallet were never recovered and someone is probably using that bag and purse as I write this article.

I was to later learn that this junction had now become “a black spot” for such incidents when I posted news about this incident on Facebook.

One woman said her cousin lost over $40 000 from a thief who also used the same tactic this week. I also heard from a passenger in a kombi who said she saw the woman wailing over her huge loss. To say I was shocked is an understatement.

I was so traumatised that I could hardly sleep for two days and hence kept dozing in my chair at work on Wednesday and Thursday.

What baffles me is that the police in that area are aware of these incidents, which are on the increase as we get into the festive season where many people carry a lot of cash around.

Why they are not setting up ambushes in that area really baffles me. Everyone I spoke to in and around that area and where I live in Tynwald, spoke about the horrible encounters along that road.

Kirkman Road junctions from Sherwood Drive where the National Stadium is located up to the turn off to Bulawayo Road have become danger zones for motorists who have increasingly fallen prey to “smash-grab-and-run” robbers.

I also met a man driving a Peugeot which had no back window and he said he was also attacked at the same junction and lost a laptop and other items.

The woman who called me from her maize field told me that she has found several items — including blankets, bed sheets and identity particulars of such victims — strewn around that area.

“One woman had some substance sprayed in her eyes and the thieves stole items from her car. This happens in full view of other motorists who watch helplessly,” she said. The robbers are so adept they do not give even onlookers time to react.

I saw the person who stole my bag and thought he wanted to ask me something and before I had pulled the window down, he had smashed it and sprinted off into the darkness. It was such a shattering experience as I lost my black Cannon digital camera I use to shoot subjects when I conducted interviews and I have no doubt that it was sold for a song.

I suffer from some chronic ailments and some of my drugs have not been recovered.

I urge the police to devise strategic ways of apprehending these thieves because I understand that these people have bases between the Harare-Bulawayo Road and Kirkman Road.

I do not wish any more people to experience the pain I underwent, but I just thank God that I am still alive because the worst could have happened.