A French tourist on Monday told the Cape Town World Cup District Court of her shock when a street child "very professionally" grabbed her gold necklace as she walked with her fiance in the city centre.
Elima Burmat had flown to Cape Town from Port Elizabeth to testify at the trial of three juveniles charged with robbing her of her chain, worth R28,000, in Strand Street, around noon on June 19.
Burmat said she noticed the three walking towards her, but did not expect anything to happen. However, as they got within arm's length, one of them jumped up and "very professionally" snatched the chain from her neck.
Although there were three juveniles in the dock, before Magistrate Joe Magele, she recognised the first two, but not the third.
Her fiance gave chase as the three fled down an escalator, and it took police on patrol only a few minutes to apprehend one, while the other two got away.
Although there was a French interpreter in court, Burmat preferred to testify in broken English. Because of this, she often had to repeat her testimony before court officials could understand her. The more she had to repeat herself, the more agitated she became because she had to board a flight back to Port Elizabeth at 6.30pm.
She said the chain, of yellow gold with diamonds, had been specially designed for her.
She was questioned at length by the defence, about the colour of the clothing worn by the juveniles at the time of the incident. She told the court she had an "excellent memory" for faces, but not for detail.
At one stage, Burmat became impatient with the cross-examination.
Attorney Faiza Viljoen urged her to "be patient with me", but Burmat replied: "I cannot be patient - I need to go."
Burmat managed to finish after 5pm, and the case was postponed to Tuesday. - Sapa