Boy, 3, sees dad gunned down
2008-04-04 08:12
Johannesburg - A young father was shot in front of his three-year-old son after robbers tried to hijack his car in Kempton Park on the East Rand.
This was after another motorist forced the robbers' getaway car off the road and they wanted to get another getaway car.
Anton Dippenaar, 27, was shot in the chest by five armed robbers in front of his son, Dylan.
According to Kempton Park police spokesperson Constable Zenzile Murudi, the robbers apparently had followed Hans-Joachim Molthahn, 65, and Peter Jonischkeit, 68, from a bank to their business premises, where they robbed the two men of the R10 000 in salaries which they had drawn.
Chased after the robbers
Sarel Robbertse, 29, of Kempton Park, saw the robbers fleeing from the business in a white Opel Monza and gave chase.
"I saw their guns and I sped in front of them and stopped so that my bakkie knocked them off the road."
The Monza drove into a fence and the robbers jumped out.
"They came at me and I took off.
"But if I hadn't stopped them, they would've got away," he said.
It was then that the robbers made Dippenaar stop and yanked his door open.
Robertson apparently saw Dippenaar being shot in front of his son.
"They were looking for a getaway car.
"He (Dippenaar) was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Dippenaar died on the scene.
Murudi said one of the robbers was shot after a police pursuit.
"The other four were arrested and the stolen goods were recovered."
Molthahn told Beeld that their wallets and cellphones also had been stolen.
"We feel so sorry for the man's (Dippenaar's) family.
"We are just so happy to still be alive," he said.
Johan Dippenaar, 54, Jaco's father, said that his son, who lived in Secunda, had been in Kempton Park "just to pick something up quickly for work".
He said that his daughter-in-law was too shocked to speak to the media.
"We're all terribly sad," he said.