GRAAFF-REINET — On Friday, February 17 at about 11.15am, car guard James Williams noticed a tall man crouched down at the doorway to Country Mouse Shop in Church Street.
He spotted the man leaving with a pink and blue floral handbag. As Williams is a slightly built, elderly man and described the suspicious character as "very large", he decided it was best to call for help. He alerted Tiekie Erasmus, a neighbouring shop's proprietor, and they both ran to Country Mouse.
The owner, Nicola Beldon, was working at her desk just two metres away from the shop gate. A shop display consisting of a number of items, one of which was a Cotton Road handbag, was between Beldon and the gate.
In spite of the facts that Beldon was so close, the gate was locked, and the bag some distance from the gate, the thief managed to stretch in and take the bag. The guard alerted Beldon to what had just happened, and she phoned X-Ray security and reached Jacques Erasmus who was in the area.
Within minutes Erasmus was at Country Mouse and was informed of the incident with a description of the man and the bag.
Williams recognised the perpetrator and went with Erasmus to find him. They intercepted the thief still with the bag (including the price tag) in Market Square. As the man is known to have mental issues, he was not arrested.
The handbag was safely returned to Beldon at Country Mouse within 15 minutes of the incident! She is very grateful to car guard Williams for his immediate response to the theft, and to those who later helped.
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