'Okay, Poppie, love you lots'

2006-06-26 23:00

Borrie la Grange

Johannesburg - Constable Francois Seaward, 31, and the three other policemen who died with him made a difference to people's lives and "he was never scared to go in first".

"But, this time he shouldn't have been the first one," said his grieving widow, Nadia, on Monday.

The couple were married just four months ago.

Constable Seaward, a member of the Johannesburg dog unit, died at a house in Jeppestown on Sunday with three other policemen, inspector Victor Mathye, 49, inspector Frikkie van Heerden, 32, of the West Rand dog unit, and sergeant Gert Schoeman, 30, of the East Rand flying squad, when they were involved in a violent shoot-out with a gang of 18 robbers.

The gang had robbed a Pick 'n Pay branch in a shopping centre in Honeydew View on the West Rand shortly before the shoot-out.

New husband's last words

Nadia, a police reservist at the dog unit where her husband worked, wanted to go to work with him on Sunday, but could not.

"After his colleagues came to pick him up, I phoned him at 09:00. His last words to me were: 'Okay, Poppie, love you lots.' When I phoned again later there was no reply," she said.

As she spoke, she held her murdered husband's wedding ring.

"When I got his ring back... he always wore it... it feels so unreal that he's gone.

"Part of me wants to keep on being a police reservist in his memory, but the other part says that I can't."

Mathye's wife died two months ago and he was the breadwinner for his two young children.

Inspector Van Heerden's wife, inspector Leonie van Heerden, was wounded in the shoot-out along with another police officer.

Seaward's sister, Delmarie, said: "Ever since he was little, Francois wanted to be a policeman.

"He was gifted and could have done any other kind of work, but he chose to become a policeman.

"It was always a vocation for him. He was always the first one to go in anywhere, and he always gave more than expected."

Seaward turned down a job offer at an insurance company a few months ago because police work was "his passion".

Delmarie said: "It's dangerous work. You hope and believe he'll be okay, that the angels will be there for him.

"Many people are alive today, thanks to what he did for the community."

'He was never scared'

A former colleague, captain Fanie van der Watt, said Seaward was like a son to him.

"He was the best detective I've ever encountered. He did his fieldwork for the cases he investigated and went searching for his suspects himself. He was never scared.

"He was like a son to me and words cannot describe my loss. Johannesburg will miss him," said Van der Watt.

A funeral service with full military honours for the murdered police officers is expected to be held on Thursday.

- Beeld