A woman was pick-pocketed at Pick n Pay on Friday 21 August, the second reported incident at the shop in recent weeks.
A woman was pick-pocketed at Pick n Pay on Friday 21 August, the second reported incident at the shop in recent weeks.
Rather than carry a bag, the shopper who preferred not to be named, put her wallet in her jacket and her cellphone in her trouser pocket. When she realised that her wallet was missing, she retraced her steps to see if she had dropped it. She hadn’t.
The shopper then approached the manager to ask if anyone had handed in her wallet. No one had. She asked to view the shop’s security video footage to see if she could work out what had happened. After 20 minutes of video, she was surprised by what she saw.
A young, well-dressed couple stood closely on either side of her while, completely unaware of their presence, she looked for something on a shelf. After only a few seconds, the man walked beside her, got his partner and together they walked away. According to the video footage, the couple left their basket by the door and left.
"I didn’t notice them at all untill I saw them on camera," she said. "The shop wasn’t even that busy."
The woman drove past Absa Bank in High Street to see if the suspects were there trying to use her card. When she found the bank empty, she drove on. Outside Spur however, she saw the two suspects as they entered the restaurant. She immediately phoned her husband who phoned the police. The woman also phoned a friend who is a police officer and coincidently, he happened to be at Spur.
The suspects were taken to Pick n Pay to view the video footage. Despite the evidence, they denied stealing the woman’s wallet.During questioning however, the male suspect admitted that they had stolen the shopper’s wallet and told the police where they had left some of her things. Several cards were left in Video Spot and one at Spur. The shopper’s wallet and remaining cards have not been found yet.
The shopper has laid charges against the couple but is still waiting for her case number. She says the police were very helpful.
"The police responded immediately," she said. "They were very effective."
