Man locks robber in with family
2010-03-16 10:02
Pretoria - A Hartbeespoort man was shot in the shoulder after he accidentally locked one of a gang of robbers inside his home with his family.
"The robbers were very young and I could see that the one that I had locked in with me, was flustered - they were really only kids," said Daan le Roux, 62, from his Netcare Unitas hospital bed in Centurion on Monday.
Le Roux was shot in the left shoulder. The bullet broke two ribs and caused tissue damage.
"It could have been so much worse. The bullet could easily have hit my heart or lungs," he said.
Dog barked
On Sunday night, Le Roux was with his wife Rita, his daughter Petra, his daughter's husband Stephan and their two sons Hannes, 6, and Paul, 4, in his home in the Birdwood complex in Hartbeespoort when his dog started barking outside.
"My dog doesn't just bark for no reason and I started wondering if something was wrong, but the dog stopped barking after a while," he said.
Later, before he went to bed, Le Roux went outside to change a setting to his borehole pump.
"When I got outside onto the verandah, the four kids were suddenly standing in front of me," he said. "They were probably about 20 years old or younger and they got a huge fright when they saw me."
Le Roux said his first thought was to go back into the living room where his wife, daughter and son-in-law were sitting and to lock the sliding door so the robbers would be locked out.
"Somehow, one of the youngsters got into the house before me and I locked him in with us in the living room," said Le Roux.
Flustered
"His three mates ran off and he became very flustered."
He saw how the robber swung "a thing" about in his hand but didn't realise it was a revolver.
"When I wanted to grab him to give him a hiding, a bullet went off," said Le Roux.
"I thought he had maybe hit my heart or lungs and I didn't know if I was maybe dying."
The robber then struggled to unlock the sliding door and tried in vain to shoot out the plated glass. He managed to unlock the door shortly afterwards and ran off.
"I am just so grateful that nothing happened to my wife and family," said Le Roux.