A South African bride-to-be, Jennine Naidoo, has been traumatized after her wedding dress was stolen by robbers in peak hour traffic in Durban CBD.
Naidoo, from Shallcross, Durban, took to social media to express her disappointment at the level of crime and urged motorists to be careful at the spot she was robbed on Monday morning, July 24, 2023.
Her wedding will take place on August 5, 2023, and she has eight days to select another dress, make alterations, and do fittings.
Many social media users sent their messages of support and wished her well for her wedding.
Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Naidoo said she and her father were on their way to work in a bakkie, when the robbery happened.
She said her wedding dress, which was worth R15,000 was in the back of their bakkie which was locked.
She had been taking her dress to have an alteration at the dressmaker before her big day.
“We had been driving near West Street near the China Mall that burnt down when we were robbed. While in traffic my dad kept on looking in his rear-view mirror as we know that area is a hotspot for smash and grabs,” Naidoo said.
“All of a sudden my father noticed a guy had opened the back of the bakkie somehow, we started shouting hysterically but he had already pulled the dress out,” she said.
“Another guy was with him and he just smirked at me.”
Naidoo said despite this being her dream wedding dress, she wouldn’t want it back.
“I had purchased the dress last year and was excited to wear it. But I would never want it back. It was so special and now I feel it has been tainted,”
She said she was trying to rake up money to purchase another dress with the help of friends and family.
Naidoo said she did not report the matter to police.
“The justice system always fails us and it won’t bring my dress back,”
She said the robbery incident left them traumatised.
“But I’m so glad my father and I were not harmed in anyway,”
“I believe that God had a plan. I was thinking if I kept the dress in the front with me, we could have been harmed.”
“There is no human compassion and human value, to steal my wedding dress and then smirk at me.”
“We work hard for our stuff and for it to be taken away in that manner is disheartening,”
“But I am not prepared to let this incident spoil my wedding day.”
