Man 'killed with own gun'
2007-11-19 06:40
Vryheid - A cafe owner has been shot to death in front of his wife, apparently with his own shotgun, stolen in a burglary three weeks ago.
Herman Strydom, 45, and his wife Helena, 44, were accosted by three armed robbers at their smallholding near the northern KwaZulu-Natal town on Friday evening.
Strydom's sister, Trudi du Plessis said: "He kept the firearm to protect his family and we suspect it was the same weapon that was used to kill him."
Strydom had just opened their security gates and the front door and was standing back to let his wife enter when they were jumped by the robbers.
Captain Vusi Mbatha said the robbers fired two shots at Strydom without saying a word. He was hit in the neck and chest and died at the house.
Strydom's father-in-law, Gert van Wyk, told Beeld on Sunday that Helena had tried to drag her bleeding husband inside, across the veranda.
"The panic button's on the wall behind the door and she must have bumped against it. They got a fright at the alarm and ran off."
He said his daughter was traumatised and just wanted to be left alone.
The attackers fled, but not before grabbing the handbag she had dropped while trying to help her dying husband to safety.
Saw grandpa dying
Their granddaughter, Simone, eight, who was in the house, woke up when she heard the shots being fired.
She ran out and found her grandpa dying.
The couple were returning from town after they had lock up their cafe at 21:00.
Strydom's father, Coen, who lives on the same smallholding, heard the alarm and ran to investigate.
"I immediately grabbed my shotgun.
"They were gone by the time I got to my son. He must have been shot at a distance of three metres and would have died almost instantly."
He said there had been a break-in at their house a few weeks ago while they were at the cafe.
"They'd arrived at home then to see three men jumping over the wall. Jewellery and my son's shotgun were stolen."