'I knew they wanted to rape her'
2006-10-26 10:21
Pretoria - A father from Elardus Park in Pretoria was shot in the face and stabbed nine
times after he had taken on two robbers with his bare fists in an effort to
get them out of his daughter's bedroom.
He fought them for about half-an-hour before they ran away. His 14-year-old son at one stage loaded his father's airgun and waited for the robbers in his room.
"I gave them a run for their money," said Chris Herbst, 37, an hour after
being discharged from Kloof Medi-Clinic.
The robbers, armed with a knife and firearm, shot Herbst in the cheek and
stabbed him five times in the back, three times in the hands, once in the
buttocks and once in the ear.
He realised he was losing blood
His wife, Julene, 36, woke up about 01:30 on Monday, noticed a light in the
house and woke up her husband.
Herbst said he jumped up and ran across the bed. The "next moment" two men
were standing in front of his bed. "I fought one of them and as he went
down he stabbed me in the buttocks, but I took him out."
"The other one's firearm went off and hit me in the left cheek."
According to Herbst he then fought the robbers out of his room and down the
passage while his wife was standing behind the bedroom door praying.
"One of them walked past her three times without seeing her."
Their son, Christiaan, 14, meanwhile loaded his father's airgun and waited for
the robbers in his bedroom.
Herbst said when he realised he was losing a lot of blood and was getting
weaker he stood behind the door of his other children's bedroom, Annika, 12, en JJ, 6, to regain his strength.
"But then I heard them calling my daughter, saying 'come here, I want you',
I knew they wanted to rape her, so I fought them and got them out of her room and
back down the passage."
"I told Annika, to break the window with the ladder of their stack-beds
and to run to the neighbours for help. I pushed JJ under the bed so that
he would be safe.
He said he fought them for half an hour before they eventually fled with two
cellphones.
Ferdie van Staden, Herbst's neighbour, had meanwhile called the police.
"They were at the scene within five minutes."
"I thank the Lord that I'm still alive and my friends and family for their
support," said Herbst. He attributed his survival to Graf Mega, a
specialised self-defence art in which he has been attending classes for more
than a year.
Police spokesperson inspector Anton Breedt confirmed the incident.