Princess: R220 000 worth of vehicles stolen during heist

In a conversation with owner Piet Fourie (64) and manager Jannie Barendse (70) of Piet Fourie Motors on Albertina Sisulu Road, the Record established that two vehicles worth R220 000 were stolen after employees were threatened on the property on Monday 17 March.

“I was sitting here at my desk, working on my laptop, when two men walked in at around 3.15pm.

“Of course I stopped working and looked up, asking them whether I could be of assistance, and then it all started,” Barendse told the Record.

“The next moment the other man was standing right next to me, holding a gun against my head.

“‘This is serious and we are going to kill you, give us the keys’, was what the man said next”, Barendse continued. He told them that he didn’t have access to the keys.

While the man kicked Barendse and continued to strip him of his wallet and cellphone and plugged out his laptop to take it with him, the other man found and passed the keys to accomplices outside, who attempted to start the vehicles they were targeting.

“The vehicles that they got away with are both big in structure, and the police pondered the possibility that they might use it in a cash-in-transit robbery at a later stage,” explained Fourie, stating that the Roodepoort police arrived at the scene around 20 minutes after they were alerted.

To read the full story of what happened during the heist, be sure to pick up the next print edition of the Record.