Man charged after intruder dies

2006-01-23 15:01

Johannesburg - A man who allegedly shot dead his attacker in self-defence at his home in Sinoville, Pretoria on Sunday has been charged with murder, Pretoria police said on Monday.

Inspector Paul Ramaloko said two armed men held up Len Parkin's 16-year-old son at 03:00 on Sunday and demanded to know where his parents were sleeping.

The son, who police have not named, took the men to the main bedroom where they opened fire on Parkin, 45, wounding him in his chest.

They also wounded Parkin's brother, Norman, when he went to investigate what was going on.

Len Parkin had meanwhile got hold of his handgun and opened fire.

One of the gunmen died. The other escaped.

Ramaloko said Parkin and his brother had been admitted to the Montana hospital.

Parkin was in a stable condition by noon on Monday.

"Because Parkin is in hospital, he hasn't been arrested. The public prosecutor will now decide whether the victim was using his firearm in self-defence or not," said Ramaloko.

The Pretoria News reported on Monday that Parkin's brother, who was shot in the back, was in a critical condition.

Parkin's wife, Marethea Liebenberg, told the newspaper she'd stayed calm during the incident. The trauma had not yet sunk in.

She said some of the shots were fired from her 10-year-old son's bedrooom.

"He cannot remember a thing, except that he heard two shots. My child was terrified," she said.

Liebenberg said her eldest son told her he kept the robbers busy for about 20 minutes when they insisted on going to his parents, even though they threatened to kill him.

She said the boy told them to wait in the living room while he locked up the dog, using this excuse to wake his father.

Liebenberg was reportedly too scared to return to her home, because the attackers appeared to have foreknowledge of its layout, asked for her husband by name and did not take anything.

The dead gunman had not yet been identified. Police have recovered his firearm.

- SAPA