Man beaten at casino dies
2009-06-08 23:16
Johannesburg – An ex-rugby player from the East Rand died on Monday after being “cruelly and senselessly” assaulted in front of his wife on Saturday night at a Steve Hofmeyr show at the Carnival City casino in Brakpan.
Andries Pieters, 39, who used to play for the Brakpan rugby club as well as for Eastern Transvaal (now the Falcons), was assaulted by a group of men outside the casino’s Privé entrance. The men had apparently insulted his wife, Lizette.
She could only watch as they kicked and beat him until he lost consciousness. He was admitted to the Union hospital in Alberton with severe brain damage.
He was declared brain-dead on Sunday, and died on Monday after the life-support machines were switched off.
Four young Pakistanis were arrested shortly after the incident, and appeared in the Brakpan Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Wife ‘in a state’
According to Phia Miller, 44, Pieters’s sister, her brother, his wife and two friends had attended the Hofmeyr show at the casino on Saturday night. Their son Keanu, 5, spent the night with his grandparents.
“We are completely at a loss as to why this happened. Thus far Lizette has been in such a state that she hasn’t been able to tell us exactly what happened.
“We only know the group of men were ‘chirping’ the women, upon which Andries started to argue with them, and then they assaulted him.”
Pieters, a manager at Imperial Bank, had sustained injuries that were so serious, according to Miller, that he had “serious brain damage” and was declared brain-dead.
“On Sunday we decided to switch off the machines that were keeping him alive, and that his organs should be donated. He would never have recovered.”
Miller says her brother was a keen sportsman.
The Bosman stadium in Brakpan was named after Pieters’s grandfather, Piet Bosman, who was also very involved with rugby.
Pieters is survived by his parents, Anette and Willie Oosthuizen, brothers Casper Pieters, 42, Roelof Oosthuizen, 30, Pierre Pieters, 21, and sister Miller.
Pakistani youths
According to Sefako Xaba, spokesperson for Gauteng police, the charges against the Pakistani youths were changed from assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, to murder.
The four, Mohammed Jabban, 21, Raadhil Omar, 19, Naheed Khan, 21, and Nihal Khan, 18, appeared briefly in court on Monday.
They will be remanded until the case is heard again on June 17.