A sneaky thief, pretending to be part of a church congregation, snatched an elderly woman's handbag while she prayed.
|||Durban - A sneaky thief, pretending to be part of a church congregation, snatched an 84-year-old woman’s handbag while she knelt in prayer with her eyes closed.
The handbag contained her blind daughter’s specially adapted cellphone, worth more than R7 000, as well as cash.
The incident happened on Sunday during the 7am service at the St Cyprian Anglican Church, in Umbilo Road.
Parish secretary, Edith March, said this was not the first time churchgoers had had their valuables stolen. “It happens all the time,” she said.
“We have warned people time and time again not to carry valuables to church.”
March said they could not lock the gates of the church.
“This is sad and a terrible state of affairs. But we just have to be more vigilant. What makes it worse is that the criminals pose as members of the congregation.”
On Sunday, the thief had joined the congregation and had been sitting in the pew opposite Pat Pearson and her daughter, Roz.
March said the man had been seen at the church before and they had assumed he was part of the congregation.
Roz Pearson, who has been blind since birth, said her mother had her bag next to her.
“She had taken a tissue out for me just a few minutes earlier. We then knelt down in prayer with our eyes closed and my mother’s bag was on the floor next to her.”
She said her mother had realised her bag was missing when she looked for it to take out money for the collection.
Father Dane Elsworth, who had spotted the man hurriedly leaving the church during the service, gave chase in his car. March said he drove around the area looking for the man. But he had disappeared.
Pearson, who lives in Musgrave, said she and her mother were upset by the theft.
“My iPhone 5 was in the bag. That phone was my life. It was very important to me,” she said. “It was my lifeline to communicating with the world.”
She said the phone had special voice-over software and a speech screen reader.
She said she had decided to go public to warn others attending religious services to be vigilant.
Daily News