Crime victims should beg for their lives and tell the robbers to take everything, in which case their lives might be spared, an academic has told a public lecture at the University of South Africa (Unisa).
 
People were also advised to have a panic button in the bathroom, since most men were held in bathrooms while robbers went through the house.

This was the advice of Dr Rudolph Zinn, of Unisa's department of criminal and forensic investigations, on Wednesday.

This advice was based on interviews with 30 convicted house robbers in Gauteng prisons. They said if victims begged and followed orders, it was seen as a good sign by the robbers.

"Don't speak to robbers"

According to the criminals who participated in the study, victims' lives would be spared if they remained calm, didn't fight back, kept their hands visible, maintained their original position and only spoke when asked a question.

"However, if the victim doesn't play along and follow orders, they make it look like they are hiding lots of money in the house and the longer the robbers stay in the house, the greater the chance of a rape occurring.

"Give them what they want so they can disappear quickly," said Zinn.

These criminals also felt that if they used more violence, they got more loot from their victims.

Respect

Zinn said the youngest hijacker he spoke to was 9 years old, and the youngest hijacker who had shot and killed his victim, was 13.

"He said the victim had not respected him as a man."

Thirty-two percent of the respondents said they want no eye contact with victims, and expect victims to follow orders.

Furthermore, the study showed that between 53% and 79% of house robberies take place thanks to the insider-information they obtained (from, for instance, a domestic worker), and that 17% of security guards and 17% of police officers were involved in house robberies.

It also emerged that the robbers drove through neighbourhoods at night and by day, to observe the security measures in place, and whether it would be easy or difficult to get in and out at a possible target.

About cash and jewellery

Zinn said the criminals saw farm attacks as just another form of house robberies. "The police usually take longer to get there and these are easy targets."

"They also target [people of] any race, and studies have shown that former black neighbourhoods are hardest hit by crime."
 
"There are usually four criminals per house robbery, and eight per farm attack."

A total of 83% of house robberies are about getting cash and jewellery, and robbers spend their loot on luxuries like expensive clothes and fancy cars.

According to these criminals, it didn't matter how a home and family was secured - if robbers wanted to get in, they would.

This story was written by Virginia Keppler and published on the News 24 Website on 03/09/2009