Robber given 'a good hiding'
2009-10-26 09:00
Sonja van Buul
Johannesburg - An East Rand family which was held up by a gang of eight robbers, managed to catch one of them as they were fleeing, and give him a "good hiding".
Danie Nel, 53, a psychologist from Kempton Park, told on Sunday how he and his wife, three daughters, his in-laws, and daughters' friends were overpowered by eight men. Two of the men were armed.
Nel's 20-year-old daughter, Jeanine, a student at the University of the North-West's (NWU) Potchefstroom campus, was hanging out with her friend, Jeanine Viljoen, in the front garden after lunch when the armed robbers overpowered them and asked how many people were in the house.
"I was in the kitchen eating dessert when one of the robbers (came into the kitchen and) attacked me with his bare hands," Nel told Beeld on Sunday.
Fought back
He said he realised it wouldn't help to approach the robbers "psychologically" and that attack was the best form of defence.
He remained calm and surprised the robber by fighting back unexpectedly.
"The psychological effect of my counter attack caught the man off guard."
Nel said the robber called in the help of an armed man from outside. This man forced Nel into the living room at gunpoint. More robbers joined them.
In the living room, they also overpowered Nel's wife Elize, 50, daughter, Lezané, 23, her friend Bennie van Graan, 24, (both from Vanderbijlpark), Ian Hattingh, 20, (Jeanine Nel's friend), and Jan and Nettie Venter (Nel's parents). All were told to lie down on the floor.
One of the robbers hit Lezané on the forehead with a firearm, after which she was still trying to calm down her family members and friends.
Meanwhile, some of robbers had overpowered the couple's other daughter, Welmarie, 22, (also a NWU student) in her bedroom, taking her engagement ring while she was talking to her fiancé, Izak de Villiers, over the phone.
De Villiers heard over the phone how his fiancée called out his name. He immediately called the police's emergency number. He also called his father, Dominee Izak de Villiers, in Heidelberg.
The father and son then raced to the house from Potchefstroom and Heidelberg respectively.
The robbers took cellphones, a laptop, money and Venter's wedding ring before fleeing.
Tackled robber
"When it quietened down, I jumped up to press the panic button when the last robber ran past me," said Nel.
He and Hattingh tackled the man while the rest of the robbers fled in Nel's Chevrolet Optra, Viljoen's Hyundai and their own car.
"We gave the robber that we managed to corner a good hiding," added Nel.
"The Norkempark police were soon on the scene and the injured robber, who was held down on the ground by Ian the whole time, was taken under police guard to a Johannesburg hospital for treatment.
"Our fists were bleeding and there was no kick left in him," said Nel.
The family's pastor, Reverend Joop van Schaik, assisted the shocked victims with trauma counselling.
Police spokesperson, Sergeant Joyce Setshedi, the suspect who was arrested was a 22-year-old man.
"We expect to arrest the other robbers soon," she said.
- Beeld