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Couple attacked 2x in 4 days
03/01/2008 10:23  - (SA)  

Pretoria - A couple from Waterkloof Ridge in Pretoria survived two attacks by the same gang of armed robbers in four days because a gun failed to fire on both occasions.

The first nightmare of Robert Scheepers, 53, and his wife, Dagmar, 57, occurred on December 22 when two armed robbers broke into their home despite an alarm system.

The robbers overpowered the couple in their bedroom.

Scheepers said one of the robbers ordered them to lie on their stomachs. "He told me in broken English: "Now we put you to sleep forever."

Robbers came back

"He pulled the trigger, but the gun didn't fire. I started praying and at one stage I said: 'Lord, you've got to help us now. Please let the alarm go off.'"

Moments later the alarm did go off and the robbers got a fright.

According to Scheepers the 10111 number was out of order.

"We tried several times, but it didn't even ring."

The robbers fled with his wife's cellphone. The couple informed the police in the hope that the robbers might be traced through it.

"The robbers answered the cellphone the next day, but the police failed to find them. One gets the idea that you are all alone in this battle."

Four days later, two of the five robbers overpowered Dagmar Scheepers while she was watering the garden.

"I head a scream and walked into one of the robbers when I ran out. He pulled the trigger, but once again the gun didn't fire."

The robber tried to hit Scheepers over the head with the gun, but he got away and ran to his neighbour.

The neighbour sent the robbers running by firing shots over the fence.

The neighbour immediately called 10111.

"The woman who answered could not spell, and my neighbour had to spell Cliff Street repeatedly. The police later arrived, saying they were summoned to Greeff Street. There is no such street in the suburb."

Scheepers said they didn't even bother to report the second robbery. "What for? You are actually wasting your time."

He said a guard he hired after the second robbery, told him on December 29 that two men again tried to gain access to the house during the morning.

The couple, who have been living at the house for the past 14 years, said they were too afraid to go home and were staying with their son in Faerie Glen.

"We won't be able to live there again," said Dagmar Scheepers.

Police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman said it was possible that the 10111 line is "out of order from time to time due to factors such as thunder or cable theft. It is usually repaired very soon."