'What are you doing?'

2008-05-04 23:34

Hilda Fourie

Pretoria - The father of two nursery school children and whose wife is pregnant was shot 15 times by robbers for R300 and a cellphone.

Ansen van der Colff, 24, of Eersterust, Pretoria, died at about 20:00 on Saturday where he was shot less than 50m from his parents' home.

His wife Nora, 23, who is five months pregnant with their third child, said her husband was on his way to his parents' home and stopped at the bank to withdraw money.

"They shot to kill him - for R300 and a cellphone," she said.

"I don't have any vengefulness. I just want to know why.

"He didn't bother anyone. He wasn't a gang member. I was his buddy."

Ansen's sister Rolisha, 23, said that she had been standing in the street waiting for her brother when she saw someone being shot at.

14 more shots

She hid behind a wall and heard another 14 shots being fired.

Little did she know the robbers were letting loose on her brother.

"In front of the shop (less than 50m from the house) I saw someone being shot at and falling in the road," Rolisha said.

"The man from next door who is a steward, ran outside and he was also shot. I ran onto our property and hid behind the wall.

"Then we heard the shots.

"My family ran to make sure the person was dead. I went to call the police. (They) then came to tell me that it was my brother lying there.

'What are you doing?'

"I still heard him shout at the guys (who shot at him), 'What are you doing?' before they began shooting at him," she said.

Ansen's family said that his death had nothing to do with recent gang violence in Eersterust or the recent deaths of two young men who were shot execution-style last week about a kilometre from their house. They said he was killed for money for drugs.

Besides his pregnant wife and his sister, Ansen also left behind his father Robert, 55, mother Lillian, 49, brothers Shane, 32, and Randahll, 27, and his two children Jade, 6, and Ruth, 1.

- Beeld