A woman put the police to shame and took matters into her own hands after being violently assaulted and mugged in a city centre by tracking down her assailants using her smarts and technology. She had her handbag and iPhone swiped in the attack but managed to use the Apple device's Find My iPhone app to find their location.
She was then told the police could not act on the information as it did not show an exact address. But the frustrated woman didn't leave it there and enlisted the help of two friends to confront the suspected attackers.
Having tracked down the phone, they chased down the suspects who fled the scene and ditched the phone, reports Derbyshire Live. The trio have also uncovered the name of a suspect, leaving the police admitted standards slipped and say that the investigation is ongoing and that they are following up significant lines of enquiry.
Sabina, 33, who does not wish to reveal her second name later found out that there had been a delay in the police investigation after pestering the force for an answer, being told that there had ‘been some confusion' and that two separate detectives had thought that the other was dealing with it.
She said: “When they told me that they couldn’t help me get my phone, I felt terrible and awful. And when they told me that no one had been assigned to the case I had to ask them if they were serious. I’m lucky that I know a lot of people and have friends on Facebook who helped. They seemed to care more than the police.”
Sabina was walking home alone from a pub in Derby city centre when she was punched in the face three times and had her handbag and phone stolen from her, before being kicked and punched on the floor by two individuals. The assault only stopped when a passing food delivery driver stopped, causing the attackers to flee.
She said: “After they’d stolen my phone and bag I thought they’d leave because they had everything. But then they started kicking and punching me. It did feel like they were going to kill me because what else did they want?"
Her bag contained all her belongings, including her keys. But it was her missing phone that she was bothered about. Sabrina said: “My life is on my phone. Pictures of my nana who died last year and my daughter are on there. It’s very important and personal to me.”
The day after the attack, she used another Apple device to locate her phone. and then contacted the police to ask them to investigate, but Sabina claims she was told they couldn't, due to the lack of a definite address.
Instead, she posted on Facebook and, after getting hundreds of responses, found two people willing to help her hunt down the phone. They tracked it to a location in the city and chased down the two suspects who ditched the phone on a patch of grass before escaping again.
With the help of people she knew, she contacted the guesthouse outside where the assailants had been standing with her phone and eventually uncovered the name of a suspect. She rang the police back with all the information she had been given but she says her call was unanswered.
When she tried again, she was told the news about the mix-up regarding who was investigating her case.
She said: “I just want them to be arrested. I'm desperate for it because I can’t sleep at night knowing they're just walking around the streets and I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. I think it’s quite serious that the police haven’t reacted at all. At the police station, they promised me so much help. They told me they could make my house more secure, give me a camera and put a police car outside my house. Little things that make me feel safe. But nothing. I can’t believe they’d just leave it like this.”
A spokesperson for Derbyshire Police said: “On Saturday 22 October we received a report of a robbery of a woman in Abbey Street, Derby. Officers attended the scene and conducted a search but were unable to locate the suspects. The following day a number of enquiries were carried out, including a CCTV trawl on the route the victim had walked, as well as house-to-house enquiries. Earlier that same day the victim had contacted the force to explain that an app on her phone showed the current location of the phone – but not a specific address.
“An officer was allocated to carry out intelligence work on the area the phone was shown to be in, however, later that day the victim explained that she had recovered the phone from another area of the city - an area that officers had not been updated about. Following a statement being taken on the evening of 23 October there was a delay in the crime being allocated and for a number of days, the victim was not contacted. That was not correct and for that, we have already apologised, and do so again unreservedly.
“In the past days further enquiries have been conducted and the victim is being kept regularly updated by the investigating officer. Incidents such as this are taken very seriously by the force and, while the initial contact between the force and the victim was not to the standard that she or we would expect, the investigation is being progressed and there are significant lines of enquiry being followed.”
