Picture the scene. A young couple arrive home at about 7:30 pm last Thursday. As they get out of their car they are accosted by three thugs, who were said to be of Nigerian origin, with the clear intention of robbing the couple, or worse.
The young wife became quite hysterical. Husband on the other hand, had recently been robbed outside his home, with a gun held to his head. He was, to put it bluntly, "pissed off". He grabbed hold of the biggest of the three thugs and started calling for help.
Help, was not slow in coming, as the neighbours poured from their homes. Two of the characters left in a hurry - well not so much of a hurry, but at great speed. The third was not so lucky. Let's just say that most of these neighbours have also been victims of crime and were also "pissed off", so they were less than gentle in immobilising the thug.
According to one witness, he was laid out cold in the street and it was a while before he came too. When he did, he started bleating, "Oh lord, what did I do to deserve this?" The sad fact is that he probably thought it was his God given right to rob, steel and murder. Well if he did not get it, everyone else did and were totally unsympathetic. Aside from a severe headache, I believe his knee caps may have been somewhat changed as well.
He was duly treated by paramedics and then questioned by the police. Apparently his story changed four times in the telling. To cut a long story short, they eventually got fed up wih him and he was loaded into the back of the police van and hauled off.
I hate what crime does to normally non-violent law abiding citizens. It turns you into someone you are not. When you have been a victim many crimes (click on crime labels to see more) the rational side of one's character does take a bit of a nose dive and is replaced with a deep seated anger. Incidents like seem like a major victory and you end up taking a perverse delight in another person's pain. That is not who I normally am.
The message though is clear. The residents of Richmond Hill have had enough and are willing ready and able to take back the their suburb.
That is not all. In the last two weeks we have had three young drug addicts removed from the park across the road and alerted the police to an obvious scrap metal thief. We might not change the situation overnight, but the tide is definitely turning.
7 comments:
I think people all over the world are just fed up with being attacked and exploited by criminals. I'm happy to hear that your neighbors caught this one, though they took out many aggressions on him. If more of these types of incidents happened, crime would start to go down, I believe.
Or..as my mother would have said, would two wrongs not make a right?
Peace - D
O.M.G. this is an unbelievable story, Max. I'm so sorry for the victims! I would have a hard time to get used to be living there.
River Poet, I am also glad when criminals are caught. However, this type of "vigilante" justice is a symptom of more deep seated problems and an anger in the community, because not enough is being done to get rid of this scourge.
Susanne, I don't think you ever get used to living like this - you just adapt.
What is even more galling is the fact that the state wants to take away our right to protect ourselves, by banning the carrying of nonletal weapons, such as pepper spray.
Well done,
Troy
This certainly get the thumbs up from me.. not just the beating Max but your words about how it make us act to defend ourselves. We English are having to do this here as the police are two tied up with paper work and traffic offences to concern themselfs with crimes such as robbery... sad world at times...
This certainly get the thumbs up from me.. not just the beating Max but your words about how it make us act to defend ourselves. We English are having to do this here as the police are two tied up with paper work and traffic offences to concern themselfs with crimes such as robbery... sad world at times...
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