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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Correspondent
THREE armed robbers yesterday raided a Bulawayo man and forced him to open a safe while threatening to kill his one year-old child resulting in him losing US$66 000 and 900 grams of gold among other valuables.

The robbers raided the man who is a manager at a local borehole drilling company, at his home in Selbourne Park suburb at about 2AM.

The Chronicle which is withholding his name so as not to jeopardise investigations tracked him down to his house where he declined to comment saying he was concentrating on investigations.

Bulawayo police spokesperson Chief Inspector Precious Simango could not be immediately reached as her cellphone was unreachable.

Sources said the victim woke up after his wife screamed after being awakened by the intruding armed robbers.

“The armed robbers who were armed with kitchen knives forced the couple to lie on the floor. They tied their hands and legs using duct tape. They also covered their mouths using the same duct tape. One of the armed robbers also went to a room where the couple’s baby and the maid were sleeping and forced marched the domestic worker into the bedroom where they had held the couple hostage,” said the source.

The source said the robbers started ransacking the house, demanding cash.

The couple’s infant child woke up and the robbers used the baby to force the father to reveal where he keeps money.

“Those robbers were heartless. One of them put the knife on the baby’s neck threatening to slit her throat if he continued to refuse to reveal where he kept the safe box keys,” said the source.

“After they showed that they were remorseless and would even spill blood to get what they wanted, he pointed to where he had hid the safe keys. The robbers then took away US$ 66 000 in hard currency and 900 grams of gold.

“They also took away the family’s six cellphones, a black Huawei P-10, a black Huawei P20, Black Samsung S8, Gold Samsung S7, Silver I phone and another Samsung,” said the source.

The robbers, said the source, escaped with the keys of a Land Rover Discovery after failing to run its engine.

Another source added: “It’s not clear how they entered the house because there was no forced entry point. Probably they might have forgotten to lock the doors.” — @nqotshili