A Christmas tale gone wrong

2003-12-23 22:32

Liezel Steenkamp

Johannesburg - "This is South Africa, and we must be more careful".

These were the resigned words of Father Bill Domeris of St Michael's Church in Bryanston after a Christmas carol dress rehearsal went horribly wrong.

According to Domeris two attackers robbed congregation members and three priests at gun point on Saturday morning.

He said that Father Gerard Sharpe and father Mothusimang Makata were in their car in front of the church when two armed robbers approached them.

They saw Father Bill Domeris walk into the church with his arms in the air only seconds earlier.

"They thought it was part of the rehearsal and that I was an angel," said Domeris.

According to him a group of about nine people, including a 10-year-old and a 13-year-old, were in the church's courtyard at the time.

"Two well-dressed young men suddenly stormed in through the gates and pulled out a gun. I could not believe what was happening. The way he held his gun told me he knew what he was doing," said the priest.

The robbers then pulled a congregation member out of her car before rounding everyone up and herding them, with their arms in the air, into the church. They stole cellphones, wallets and jewellery, said Domeris.

Sharpe and Makata arrived as the robbers were forcing the group into the church. They also took Sharpe's cellphone and wallet and rings before fleeing in a congregation member's car.

- Beeld