Robbers strike 7 times
2007-02-08 10:44
Amanda Roestoff
Pretoria - A couple from Krugersdorp have been the victims of crime seven times - they had been robbed six times, and have just been attacked by robbers who took only R100.
Teresa van Zyl, 35, a personal assistant, and her husband, Jacques van Zyl, 37, a network engineer, were wounded in the latest incident. Their house in Fisk Street in Noordheuwel has been burgled six times.
They were in their garage shortly after 20:00 on Monday and had just paid a technician for repairs when a man armed with a gun ran towards them yelling and firing shots.
His accomplice waited at the entrance to the garage with a screwdriver in his hand, said Teresa.
She was wounded in her left calf when she tried to flee to warn her children, Amor, 11, and Jean-Jacques, eight, who were inside the house. At first she didn't realise she had been wounded.
While running towards the house, she screamed to warn the children and the neighbours. Her wounded husband arrived at the kitchen door while she was desperately trying to find the alarm button.
Only then did they realise they had been wounded. Jacques suffered a slight flesh wound. The bullet hit the inside of his forearm and got stuck in his side.
He underwent surgery on Tuesday and was discharged on Wednesday. She was still being treated in hospital.
The robbers fled with R100 they had found on Jacques.
"I'm afraid to return to my own home," said Teresa on Wednesday. "The government is wearing blinkers.
"We hear about everything that is being done about crime, but I don't see any of it," she said from her hospital bed.
Steven van Niekerk, chairperson of the Krugersdorp community policing forum, said crime was taking on critical proportions in the town.
- Beeld