Family's heartache doubles

2003-07-22 09:31

Borrie la Grange

Pretoria - The shock and heartache of a Pretoria family doubled after they were robbed on a road where a family member had been killed earlier.

Gerrie Kotzé, 56, and his children, Edwin, 25, and Derika, 28, were overpowered by robbers on Sunday when they went to plant a remembrance cross on the road where Hendrik, 57 - Gerrie's brother - was killed in a motorcycle accident on Friday evening.

Kotzé contacted the state mortuary in Pretoria on Saturday morning when his brother didn't arrive home. He found part of his brother's leg about 30m from where the accident took place near the Moloto road crossing outside Pretoria. He took it to the mortuary.

Hendrik's left leg was torn off just below the knee. He apparently bled to death before being flown to hospital in an emergency helicopter.

Debbie Herselman, a family member whom Hendrik lived with, is furious as police failed to inform them of his death.

Kotzé says the robbers struck after the rest of the family had left once the cross-planting ceremony had finished.

He said he asked the robbers about the accident, not realising the danger. He added that he only realised what was happening when one took out a pistol and the other pressed a knife against his chest.

The robbers took jewellery, cellphones and cash, before fleeing in their bakkie and the Kotzés car.

Kotzé says his brother was on his way to Cullinan when the accident happened. He was apparently struck when a bakkie overtook a car.

Herselman says: "What's happened since Hendrik's death is like a thriller. It feels as if it can't all be true."

Inspector Jean Pretorius, Cullinan's police spokesperson, says paramedics had tried to stabilise Hendrik's condition.

- Beeld