[imagesource:facebook/thepeopleschurch]

Worshippers at a Constantia church were left traumatised after three armed robbers conned their way inside.

Minister Geoff Bond said the suspects were armed with guns and a knife. One of the robbers had gained access to The People’s Church – Assembly of God in Constantia after pretending to be sick on Friday evening. Once he was inside, he let his cronies in too, where they held everyone up.

Six people in the church who were there for the youth programme were held up, and told to lie on the ground. Four men were tied up with cellphone chargers and bag straps and told not to look at the assailants, who put on gloves, the minister said.

“They took their cellphones and cash. They told victims they didn’t want to hurt them and they asked for the safe. We don’t keep money at the church.”

Minister Bond said the robbers couldn’t lock everyone in the room so they herded them into the bathroom and told them to stay there. The victims were not sure when the suspects left because after some time they went to check and the criminals had fled.

The suspects stole a congregant’s car, a VW Polo GTi.

“The victim is from Namibia and he begged them not to take his passport with them. When they were freed they found his passport inside the church. They came back and dropped it off. I believe that one of the suspects kept apologising for doing this to the church. There was a lot that they could have taken but their focus was on the car.”

Minister Bond admitted that churches were soft targets, saying “Our role is to be kind to people in need, which places us in a difficult situation, but we also have to be sensible and take precautions.”

“We have security measures in place but someone was conned. The gate was left open because someone was coming. We usually keep the gates closed but on Friday evenings with people coming and going preparing for the youth programme, the traffic gate happens to be open.”

He said the suspect rang the bell at the security gate because he couldn’t get in, telling a tall tale about how he was sick and asking if he could use the toilet. The gate was opened for him out of kindness, but then he took advantage of the poor church.

The minister said the victims were offered two-hour counselling sessions.

Meanwhile, the Diep River SAPS had opened a business robbery case for further investigation.

[source:iol]