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'I saw him in a pool of blood'
12/10/2006 08:48 - (SA)
Dries Liebenberg, Beeld
Durban - One day after a businessman from Mpumalanga and his wife arrived in Amanzimtoti for a few days' holiday, robbers shot him in the head and drove over him with his own car.
Louis Buerman, 66, owner of a school clothes supplier in Barberton, was busy
putting fish he had just bought into the car when he was overpowered, said
his wife Petro on Wednesday afternoon.
They were filling up their car at a filling station in Kings Road,
Amanzimtoti at 11:00 on Wednesday morning after they had arrived in Durban
on Tuesday.
She remained seated in the car while her husband went to buy snoek at a shop
renowned for its tasty fish, she said.
'I heard the shot'
When he bent down to put the fish in the car she suddenly saw somebody
wearing a red shirt coming quickly towards the car.
"I opened the door and ran away. I ran into the shop at the filling station
and shouted: 'We are being hijacked'. Then I heard the shot, and when I got
outside, my husband was lying in a pool of blood," she said.
According to a woman who was waiting in one of the cars, two men shot
Buerman before driving over him with his Toyota Corolla, said Chris Botha,
spokesperson for Netcare 911.
X-rays showed that the robbers had reversed over Buerman's head before they
drove forward over the kerb at great speed.
Buerman was rushed to St Augustine Hospital, where he died at 14:00 as a
result of his injuries, said police spokesperson superintendent Danelia
Veldhuizen.
"We wanted to relax for a few days. We would have returned home on Monday,"
said Buerman's traumatised wife.
Her brother and sister-in-law were murdered on a farm in the Free State two
months ago.
"What more do they want?" asked Buerman.
Allan Hutton, owner of the filling station, said at first he thought
Buerman was being followed when she ran into his shop, and he wanted to lock her into the cash register
office behind bulletproof glass.
He said he phoned 10111 to report the shooting, but the operator put the
phone down. His next call was not answered.
They also didn't answer the phone at the police station, said Hutton.
Eventually they pressed the emergency button to call Chubb security.
The police radio control room said they experienced a problem with the
telephone lines for several hours on Wednesday morning, said Veldhuizen.
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