The Hyde Park Arsonist
My paths crossed with Andre Snyman from eblockwatch in a very peculiar manner, which is actually testament to how switched on he is.
As I am a particularly busy person on social media, always looking for developments, not just for Dossier but watching trends and activities. So I started picking up on the story of mansions being burnt down in the Hyde Park area, as I have lots of friends and relatives in the area. I saw a blurred picture of the man who was thought to be the suspect in one of the newspaper stories I was reading.
Then something happened that gave me sleepless nights. The arsonist crept into the home of someone I know very well and I saw video footage of him spending four hours… yes four hours.. on the property, even looking at them sleeping, and not touching a single thing. It was the man from the newspaper article! As I am obviously very concerned, I posted that this man needs to be stopped. I had to be careful with info as the police was staking out at the home for a few nights, but he did not return. A week later a home was burnt down in Sandhurst.
Andre picked up on my interest in the Arsonist, I did not contact him, I was not even aware of eblockwatch as I live outside of Johannnesburg. So he found me. This shows how far reaching his network is, as I did not post much detail, I could not due to police involvement, I merely asked people to be vigilant.
Andre Snyman
Andre started getting involved in neighbourhood security almost 20 years ago, before Facebook and What’sApp, by sending group SMS messages to residents in Bryanston where he resides. People were alerted of incidents and in the conversations that followed via SMS, patterns of crime came to light, such as the Bryanston “creepy crawlers”. The residents became aware that criminals were crawling on the lawns to gain access to homes, and they realised that it was to prevent the beam alarms from going off. So the residents then became educated about that, and could rectify the situation. And conversations started and communities started standing together.
Today, Andre has almost 100,000 memebers on www.eblockwatch.co.za
The network he has also includes his 5,000 Facebook members with 12,600 following him on that page. The Eblockwatch Facebook community has reached 39,000.
There have been posts made that was reposted 15 million times.
Andre gains very little from this as everyone knows he is a doting grandfather and is only a concerned citizen and not part of any organisation other than his own platform.
All the members have Andre’s direct number which must be exhausting but a good way of picking up on gang trends or crimes that seem to have patterns. As such Andre has become a source to the media. “I am like a switchboard”, he says, “the Agony Aunt of crime!”
“If I get news of a crime, I know which member on the group I can contact to assist in getting action from police or detectives immediately. We have an excellent IT team now who assist in keeping the website updated constantly.”
We asked Andre a few questions about the Arsonist:
So what does the police and security companies know about the Arsonist?
The suspect is an African male in his thirties, average build and height. He moves on foot in the areas he commits the crimes in, usually around midnight and early hours of morning. He is agile and easily manoeuvres over walls, fences skylights and windows.
(Ed note: The footage I saw from one of the houses, he manoeuvred through a very small gap between two fences.)
When did you first become aware the houses burning down in particularly Hyde Park area could be the work of one man?
The first house I became aware of was in Illovo close to The Wanderers with the owners not present, the Fidelity Guards were able to save the dogs after. That was when I became part of the mission to find this man.
What is his modus operandi?
He is most definitely a psychopath, we have a team of psychologists who are studying the case. They recon he is an educated man. The assumption is that he grew up in the area as the son of a domestic worker. It seems that he went to a good school, possibly even a private school paid by the household his mother worked in. It is assumed that he has a grudge against the wealthy families he came to know in his schooling. Maybe it is that he could not take his education further than matric. The homes he targets are all within a five km radius of Hyde Park, so it is possible that he has been inside these homes as a teenager. He knows the area very well.
He started with very wealthy homes, burning them down and fleeing. But as time has progressed he has started cooking a meal in the house before burning it down, to starting to burning homes with owners still inside.
He then started targeting old people, locking them up and threatening to burn their homes down and indeed one resident has died in one of his fires in Houghton. He did beat up an old man and security managed to get him out of the house on fire but he passed away in hospital. It was before the Carte Blanche expose so we do not think he has motives for media attention
He has now come full circle, and going back to the area he started, and targeting homes that have been rebuilt.
(Ed note: We have photographs of homes that has been burnt down but for the owner’s security will not publish any them in this piece.)
I have had a lot of pushback from the cops, the Residents Association and security companies as they all have their own agendas, and said I was spreading fake news. But they have since realised that this man exists, and all parties must work together to find him.
Does the video footage remain intact after a fire so one can link him?
There is footage of him walking in gardens. He is obviously voyaristic as he does surveillance but does not burn down every home he goes to. It could well be that he works for a security company and knows where the cameras are. But there has been a lot of footage collected. The interesting part is that he does not steal, there is no theft involved. He has been known to take food and wine and sit next to the home and watches activities in the homes. Some areas of the homes do not burn down and surveillance is then still in existence.
It has stretched over two years now. He slows down activities when excuse the pun, things get on the “boil”. There might be certain times that triggers him. It is an urge he has, much like a serial killer. He is a very dangerous individual.
Why do you think he is so hard to catch?
He obviously knows the area so well, and the movements of security teams and where cameras are. His appearance also fits in with the area he commits the crime in, he is well dressed and that makes it more difficult to spot him. He fits into the environment. He spends a lot of time at the back entrances of properties, maybe even using a few properties back entrances and gardens to get to his target. As far as I know, he has never been seen on street. He spends a lot of time surveilling his targets.
Is there anything the public can do to stop him?
We need to connect the dots, there are many silos who work with the cops. Fidelity Guards have put out a R100,000 reward to catch him. There is a huge amount of information out on him, he will be caught. He has urges so he will go out to satisfy it. And sooner or later he will be caught. It is important that the public sees the footage and his face, as someone will recognise him eventually.
What do you think is the motive is behind this? Is he targeting rich people? Is there a pattern?
One psychologist said that men like this have a lack in their lives, usually impotence, and that motivates them to destruction. Maybe a hatred towards the rich and possibly that he could have been in a position to be rich but have not fulfilled that expectation.
He targets one geographical area reason being that he knows the area so well. There is a link to his triggers in that area.
What can the public do to safe guard themselves?
The best way is to install AI smart cameras on the outside of your walls which alerts the security companies and the owners. The security company can then see if it is a dog to person and if it is an intruder will use a speaker to alert intruder that they are being watched and filmed. The beauty of this system is that the intruder will not have time to enter the property without security company already on scene. It is a fascinating App and a no brainer for people in the area. (This is a Fidelity service)
Contact 082 561 1065 if you have any information
About eblockwatch:
ANDRE SNYMAN
Ermelo-born Snyman moved to Johannesburg over twenty years ago and struck by the city’s uphill struggle against crime, felt that he needed to do his bit in the fight against it. Snyman now works full time on eBlockwatch and with highly sophisticated technology, co-operation with journalists, the police force, security companies and a vast and willing community of members, has helped solve some of our country’s most high-profile crimes.
EBLOCKWATCH
What started out as an online forum for people keen to do their part in the fight against crime, has now grown into a multi-faceted organisation that uses some of the most sophisticated digital technology on the market to track, monitor, pre-empt and apprehend criminals and missing persons. As well as having some of the most cutting edge digital tech at the forefront of its operations, eBlockwatch uses its ‘community’ of over 100 000 members from all over the country to ‘use their collective clout’ to make a real difference. We work on the philosophy that a member must look after themselves, their loved ones and those around them and collectively we look after each other.
WHAT THEY DO
It’s a simple, yet effective premise. Use smart tech on dumb criminals to:
Collect and spread information about crime.
Assist members using our 100 000-strong membership base, through our CommUnity button.
REMEMBER...
eblockwatch is neither a security company nor a reaction organisation. They disseminate information and mobilise communities and members to report and fight crime in their areas. eBlockwatch is a network of networks which include: Neighbourhood watches, police task teams, specialised industrial support teams, security companies and police reservists, South African Women's Agricultural Union with its 10 000 members scattered across South Africa, Township patrols, and most importantly over 100,000 ordinary South Africans. As each member reports incidents and spreads the word about criminal activity, so the more members are informed and the safer our members become.
