GEORGE NEWS - Students lodging in a private home in George South had a huge scare this morning, Sunday 17 March, when a 25-year-old man tried to break into one of the bedrooms while there were two students in the room.

It happened in broad daylight at about 08:20. According to a fellow student who spoke on behalf of the traumatised victims, the burglar showed up at the window of their bedroom, which has burglar bars, demanding their laptops and cellphones. 

She said the burglar threatened that he had a "gun" and that they should keep quiet, however one of the students started screaming and ran for the bedroom door. 

Both then escaped into an adjacent bedroom where there were two other students. They locked their door and one of the students pushed the panic button.

"We heard breaking noises as this guy was trying to get into the house, but fortunately the security got here fast. We were scared to death," said one of the students who all want to remain anonymous.

Three minutes after the panic button was pushed, a security officer from Optima Security, Frans Holtzhausen, was on the scene. 

He told George Herald he was in Hope Street when the call came through. When he got to the house, the students gave him a description of the burglar and he gave chase down Palgrave Street through Boschendal. 

Holtzhausen noticed the perpetrator quite a distance away when he reached York Street, on his way in the direction of Pacaltsdorp.

Holtzhausen jumped out of his vehicle to give chase. 

"He tried to run away but after about 300 metres, I was on him and managed to tackle him. He still had the laptop and cellphone that he had stolen with him."

The burglar had managed to enter the bedroom and grab his booty by breaking the bottom side of the burglar bars out of the bedroom wall. There were signs of him having stepped on the one bed while clambering to get inside.

A police detective from the police was on the scene a little while after the incident to investigate.

According to Holtzhausen, there had been an earlier attempt during the week to enter the house through the security gate at the front door.

The student's laptop and cellphone were retrieved by Optima Security's Frans Holtzhausen. Photo supplied 

Some of the stuff confiscated from the burglar. Photo supplied

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