Bully cons boy out of bike

2008-03-26 23:54

Liela Magnus

Pretoria - "He looked back and laughed at me. That's when I knew he wasn't coming back with my bike."

Xavier Fick, 10, had his beloved, shiny green Sumo BMX stolen by an 18-year-old bully who had wormed his way into the youngster's confidence.

Xavier said: "He said he wanted to fetch R500 from his sister's flat. We then rode there."

Xavier stood on the back of the bike and the older boy rode it.

"He told me to get off so that he could go to the flat quickly. So I got off.

"When he rode off, he laughed at me and went round the corner at a heck of a speed," said Xavier.

"I knew then he was stealing my bike. I felt as if I wanted to wring his neck."

Xavier's mother, Thalia, had saved for three months to buy the bike for him.

She has been the only breadwinner in the family since her husband, Fanie, was diagnosed with liver cancer.

She said: "That bully didn't care one bit how hard I had worked for that bike, or for my child's heart, or for how much he loved the bike."

A good Samaritan lent her cellphone to Xavier so that he could phone his mother after the other boy had taken the bicycle.

She agreed to go and drop him at his home in Eloffdal in Pretoria.

Thalia said: "His father is at death's door and Xavier helps me a lot with caring for him.

"He cooks in the evening and makes breakfast in the morning.

"He always used his bike in the afternoons to go and buy bread or milk or whatever we needed and it was his transport to school.

"How are you going to get home in the afternoons now, Flea?" she asked worriedly.

Xavier is at Properitas Nova School which is about nine blocks from their house.

Thalia said: "It's very far to walk and a dangerous road."

Xavier said the boy who took his bike had said he was 18 years old.

"He also told me his name, but I can't remember it. It was a very long name."

- Beeld