Cyclist stabbed in the neck

2009-01-09 09:30

Hilda Fourie

Pretoria - A cyclist was found by her son, lying unconscious and bloodied in the veld next to her bicycle, after being stabbed in the neck.

Mathilda Barnard, 39, who lives in Pierre van Ryneveld, has not been able to tell anyone what happened during the attack on Wednesday. She is still under sedation in intensive care at the Unitas Hospital in Centurion.

John Williams, 61, told on Thursday how he and Barnard, his future daughter-in-law, had been training to ride the Sani 2 Sea mountain bike race next month.

On Wednesday afternoons they usually ride from Doringkloof shopping mall with the Centurion mountain bike club.

"I sent her an SMS on Wednesday to ask whether she would be riding (with us). She said she would," Williams said.

"At about 16:40 I called her, but her cellphone just rang.

"The group decided to start without her. We thought she would be waiting for us at the railway line, which is on her way to the mall.

'Why was the violence necessary?'

They then found some of Barnard's belongings on a footpath to the railway line.

"Mathilda's son, Morné, 20, was riding at the front of the group and came upon his mom. She was lying unconscious next to the barbed wire near her bicycle. She had a stab wound on the left side of her neck and there was blood on her right arm and leg."

Williams said an older man was keeping watch at Barnard's side. He had apparently found her, sent someone for help and was waiting there until the help arrived.

Only Barnard's cellphone had been taken.

"I am angry. Very angry. Why was the violence necessary? Why was it necessary to stab her for a cellphone?" Williams said.

Barnard is unable to move her left arm and left leg, although she has sensation in these limbs.

This is supposedly caused by the swelling from the stab wound.

- Beeld