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- A Stuijt
- Retired South African medical journalist, ex-Sunday Times of Johannesburg.
Safehouse for women torched
09:27 | 
Posted by
A Stuijt |
Compass, a home for 30 abused women and children, was torched on December 23 2010 in Bedfordview, Edenvale , allegedly by a stalking husband… leaving vulnerable women and children homeless..
Terrified, abused women and children were left homeless two days before Christmas when an unnamed stalker, the husband of one of the women, torched the R1,4-million house at 2.30pm on on Fourth Street, Edenvale, Bedfordview region. Pastor Shane Wagner says they are now trying to pick up the pieces and raise the funds to continue caring for abused women and children.
.A ‘safe house’ for women and children – but they allowed a drunken male stalker to live on the premises…
The fire started at about 2.30pm on December 23 – at a time when all the residents were at a charity-Christmas party nearby. The Compass Safehouse spokeswoman Lynn van Niekerk, (right on picture) and its housemother, Tessa Marais, appealed to anybody who would be able to assist in rebuilding the safe house, to phone her on 0728904888. Pastor Shane Wagner can also be contacted on on 076 976 1193 or 011 454-3642.
Wagner says ‘they are trying to pick up the pieces and raise the funds needed to continue caring for abused women and children’. In January, Greenstone shopping centre donated R10,000 worth of shopping vouchers to the Compass safe home representative, Lyn van Niekerk.
The case against the unnamed man meanwhile, who was charged with arson for torching the Compass Home for Abused Women and Children and for stealing a TV from it, has been repeatedly postponed . It was also moved from Edenvale court to the Germiston Regional Court. His name has not been published thus far, – but Pastor Wagner told the news media that ‘revenge’ may have been the reason a husband and father allegedly set fire to the safe house. Interviewed by local journalist Charmaine Slater, Wagner said the man had come to the safe house for women and children with his wife and three daughters and was allowed to stay – but was kicked out when it was found he was an abusive drunk. The man then started stalking his wife until the house was tourched.
Meanwhile, it is believed the case is still on the rolls – languishing. According to Edenvale SAPS ltcol Robbie Roberts, it is believed that the man had broken into the house and taken a television set while the residents were attending a charity Christmas party. He tried to flog the TV for R200 to a nearby shopkeeper. “The man was arrested near the scene with the television and is placed at the scene at the time of the fire,” Lt Col Roberts said. The man was arrested and charged with arson, housebreaking and theft. He appeared in the Edenvale Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, December 28 where his case was postponed. The man’s bail was denied and he was remanded in custody until he appeared in court again on January 6 – where it was postponed to January 13 and moved to the Germiston Regional Court. And there have been no further articles about the progress of this case.
Revenge by stalking husband suspected:
Left: Just three days before the fire, 115 employees from the UPS parcel service had donated 460 volunteer hours to Compass to create a garden, paint a house and palisade fence and a mural on one of the walls. Three days later, it was all gone.
Pastor Wagner believed that revenge may have been the reason a husband and father set fire to the Compass safe house according to local journalist Charmaine Slater.
A ‘safe house’ for women and children – but they allow a drunken male to live on the premises?
The unnamed man who was charged with torching the safe housecame to the organisation with his wife and three daughters. Pastor Shane said that the man was asked to leave the house when it was discovered that he was drinking on the premises.
“We used the help of a social worker and the processes of the court to help the woman get a protection order against her husband,” Pastor Shane said. Since the organisation helped the woman to get a restraining order against her husband, the SAPS had to be called in on several occasions to remove the man from the Fourth Street premises.
He ripped out the electric cables from the electric box on December 17:
According to Pastor Wagner, on December 17 the man had also gained access to the premises and ripped the electric cables out of the electric box on the wall at the side of the house. “The Edenvale SAPS was contacted and he was escorted off the premises,” Wagner said. However the stalker returned again at 1am and again at 3am – he was arrested by the Edenvale SAPF but was released the next Monday. 
On Tuesday December 21 the man had aggressively accosted his wife while she was walking through the Eden Mall Taxi Rank. “He pointed a knife at her and took her phone and money she had with her,” Pastor Shane said. “On December 23 we were escorting the children and moms to a Christmas Party when I received a call that the man had forced his way onto the Fourth Street premises. We contacted the SAPS and he was escorted off the property,” Pastor Shane said.
“Later on we received another call that the man was hanging around the shop near the house. I told the Compass member on the phone to take everyone who was left in the house and walk in a big group and to make sure everything was locked when they leave,” Pastor Shane said. Shortly after the phone call, Pastor Shane received a call to tell him the house along Fourth Street was on fire. “I ran to the house, I was only about a block away. There was hardly anything left,” Pastor Shane said.
Pastor Shane was then informed that police officers had arrested the man at the shopping centre close to the house when he tried to sell one of the safe house’s television sets to a security guard for R200.“We believe it was the man’s intention to hurt his wife as the fire was started in her room. While trying to hurt his wife the man has hurt 62 children instead,” Pastor Shane said. Compass is currently in the process of trying to rebuild or re-house the children who have been scattered throughout Edenvale until a new place is found.
Assistance needed for safe house
Anyone wanting to assist Compass can contact Pastor Shane Wagner on 076 976 1193 or 011 454-3642.
