THE Eureka Lutheran Church in Elsies River is a shell of what it used to be after becoming a target for skelms.
The place of worship has been ransacked for years, with the church hall now completely stripped of its furniture and windows, while wires have been stolen to leave the hall without electricity.
To make matters worse, burglar bars and doors have also been damaged and removed. Then there is also a groot gat innie dak.
One suspect was arrested during the most recent incident last Tuesday when two mense were caught red-handed.
Police spokesperson Anelisiwe Manyana confirmed that Ravensmead police registered a Business Burglary case following an incident on 8 April 2025 at around 2.30pm in 35th Avenue, Lutheran Church.
She reports: “It is alleged that a 55-year-old suspect got into the roof and he was caught by security personnel. The suspect was arrested and he already appeared in Goodwood Magistrates Court last week.”
Pastor David October from the Eureka Lutheran Church confirmed the hall has been experiencing break-ins recently.
October says: “Last week, the two people who were caught by the ADT did not steal anything, they were caught smoking drugs inside the hall which is on the church premises.
“The one guy managed to run away when the ADT arrived and the other one was caught by the ADT officials and was later arrested by Ravensmead police.
“After the arrest, more names came up about people responsible for the burglaries and demolition of the hall and that information was given to the police, so we are just awaiting feedback.
“It is a very sad story and it is not nice to see what is
happening because at the end of the day with all these burglaries there is money involved and we need to ask the congregation for money and many things have to be implemented.
“Now we are looking at losses of over R80 000 and we need to repair the roof and electrical wiring because things were just taken and we need to look at the damage and decide whether we are going to fix the windows and doors.
“I believe through the grace of God we will be able to put an end to the burglaries which is our main thing at the moment.”
Roderick Ourson from the Elsies River Community Police Forum is calling on SAPS to do more visibility which he said is really not happening in that area.
Ourson adds: “We need the community to assist SAPS so we can crack down on these criminals who has no respect for the church but in the event that they die their families want them to be buried out of these churches.”
In 2023, the church was broken into five nights in a row and human poo was found on the pulpit left by the criminals.