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'He is my only son!'
10/10/2006 07:30 - (SA)
Schalk Mouton, Beeld
Johannesburg - The mother of a Benoni road rage victim was distraught after hearing he probably had only three days to live after a brutal assault.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she sobbed: "It's my only
son!"
Poppie Wallis en Yolanda Ballot, mother and daughter of Wimpie Ballot, 40, heard on Monday that doctors believed he would not recover.
"The doctor believes he is not going to make it, but we are giving him three
more days before switching off the machines - and then we'll see if he
survives without them," said Ballot.
Ballot, the father of a 15-year-old daughter, was beaten unconscious at about
16:30 on Saturday by a "huge man in a Blue Bulls jersey" and left next to the road.
Didn't want to go to hospital
"The man apparently just pushed him out of the way and drove off. A witness
helped him to get out of the road," said his wife.
Denise Knight, who helped Ballot at the scene, said it happened at the
corner of Mercury and Atlas Roads in Benoni. "Ballot was in the turn-off
lane and asked the man if he could go ahead of him in order to drive
straight on. The man shook his head, but Ballot turned in front of
him anyway," she said.
Apparently both men stopped and got out of their cars.
"The man shouted at him in Afrikaans and pushed and beat him." Ballot apparently didn't have a chance to defend himself.
Apparently Ballot fell and hit his head on the tarred road.
The other man, who was driving a white Mercedes-Benz, got into his car and
drove off.
Ballot's head was bleeding, but he refused to be taken to hospital in an ambulance.
"I later took him to hospital against his will," she said.
Ballot underwent surgery to stop a brain haemorrhage in Life Glyynwood
Hospital on Saturday night.
He fell into a coma and did not regain consciousness.
"The doctor said he suffered a stroke and doubted whether he would make it," said Ballot. Apparently there were still spots of blood on his brain.
The family laid a charge with police, but the attacker had not yet been found.
Ballot said the family had an idea where the man worked and that they were
trying to find the vehicle through the registration number.
- Beeld
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