THE MERCURY
Liz van Quickelberge thought it was the end when she stumbled upon an intruder in her bedroom at a Pinetown retirement village on Sunday. But, by using her wits, she delivered him, dressed as a woman, into the hands of the police. Picture: Sbonelo Ngcobo
Durban – After outwitting a suspected robber and delivering him to police, Pinetown pensioner Liz van Quickelberge is now asking that the favour be returned.
Thousands of rand of jewellery – which the thief had at the time of his arrest – has disappeared, the 78-year-old says, and she is desperate to have it back.
The pensioner has reported the incident to the police, and police spokesman Thulani Zwane says this is being looked into.
Among the missing pieces was a diamond ring, valued at R100 000, which had been in Van Quickelberge’s family for generations.
“It was so precious to me,” she said on Tuesday.
She also lost an emerald-and-diamond ring as well as a number of jewel-encrusted brooches.
Van Quickelberge came upon the man in the bedroom of her Sandown Retirement Village home on Sunday.
He was on the run from police, after robbing a man in Kloof earlier in the day.
She convinced him she could help him escape, and with him dressed in her clothes, drove him out of the village – to the waiting police and neighbourhood watch.
Van Quickelberge said that during the almost 45 minutes he spent in her house, the man stole 17 pieces of jewellery valued at R300 000.
He stashed them in a plastic shopping packet she had given him to put his clothes in.
She handed him over, shopping packet in hand, but the only items that were returned to her were two of her watches found on his wrists at the time of his arrest.
“Isn’t it shocking?” she said. “I took my jewellery, with the man, to the authorities myself – now it’s gone.”
The Mercury
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