Cape Town - Police are probing the robbery of former Western Cape top cop Major-General Jeremy Vearey who along with his family was held at gunpoint on Tuesday night.
A leaked police report stated the brazen thieves gained access to Vearey’s Mowbray home by claiming to be police officers.
According to the report, Vearey, the former head of Western Cape detectives, opened the door of his home after seeing the gun-wielding suspect through a glass door.
“The complainant was in his house sitting in the living room with his family watching TV,” the report read.
“Suddenly he heard a knock on the glass door. He saw a tall unknown African male standing by the glass door, carrying a firearm and knocking very hard shouting, ‘police, police’.
“Then the complainant asked him for his appointment certificate ….
“While unlocking the door, another unknown African male smashed the glass door with a crowbar damaging it.”
The report further states that the two men went inside Vearey’s home and one instructed him to lie down on the floor. This is when a third thief entered the house and demanded Vearey’s cellphone.
They also took Vearey’s son to the room and stole a laptop, iPad, cellphone and R170 in cash.
Police spokesperson, Malcolm Poje, confirmed the incident: “Mowbray SAPS registered a house robbery case following an incident at about 8.45pm.
“A family of four was held up by three unknown armed suspects and robbed of electronic devices, including a laptop, an iPhone, an iPad and cash. The family escaped unhurt. The suspects are still at large after fleeing.”
Vearey could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The incident comes just a week after it was revealed that Vearey, who was axed after a Facebook post, was set to testify in the trial of alleged underworld kingpin, Nafiz Modack.
The State says Modack had allegedly tried to bribe Vearey by paying an alleged middleman, Mohamed Hanware, more than R500 000 for the return of his firearms.
The Hawks team who investigated the murder of Anti-Gang Unit detective, Charl Kinnear, presented bank statements to Judge Robert Henney showing payments of R500 000 from Empire Car Investments to a bank account of Hanware’s girlfriend, Caitlyn Bowen.
Court documents showed various transfers from 2018 to 2020 using references such as “Gen V”, amounting to R587 000. The money trail stopped with the couple. The State said the husband and wife would not be called to testify while Vearey would testify as a State witness.
Cape Argus