Awakened by what sounded like loud bangs and a hammer hitting the house followed by frantic footsteps, a Mariannhill resident has told of her experience this morning during a shootout with police and wanted suspects in Desai, Mariannhill.
A manhunt is now underway for two more suspects wanted in connection with serious and violent crimes in the Mariannhill area following a pre-dawn police operation in the area that resulted in nine suspects being shot dead by police on Wednesday.
Members of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Stabilization Team, acting on intelligence about a group of eleven suspects who were terrorising the residents of Mariannhill and the surrounding areas, mobilised to the area in search of them.
It is alleged that the group have been involved in several criminal activities, including armed robberies, theft, rape and murder.
Police spokesman Colonel Robert Netshiunda said the suspects were also wanted in connection with the gang-rape of a girl, whose mother was forced to watch the attack, during a house-robbery.
Col Netshiunda said the youngest suspect was 18 and the oldest 22.
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Three firearms and a rifle were retrieved from the home the suspects were occupying.
A woman from one of the neighbouring cottages, who asked not to be named in fear of victimisation, said the commotion scared her and her neighbours and forced them to stay inside out of fear.
“I was awakened by the loud bangs and what sounded like a hammer hitting against the house and then frantic footsteps,” she said.
She said crime had become a norm in the area as criminals invaded people’s homes and terrorised them.
“We hear of stories all the time of women being raped and killed. There is never peace in this community; we are constantly living in fear,” she said.
She said learning that they have been living amongst rapists and criminals was traumatising and they fear the suspects that escaped during the shootout.
