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“My brother won’t know he had a father,” said Johann Heunis’s daughter, Mieke (6), to her mother, Mariandra, shortly after her father was shot dead.
Her pregnant mother replied by telling her daughter that they’re going to tell him about their father, but Mieke answer simply: “He won’t believe us.”
This is how Mariandra (32) described the conversation she had with her little girl after her husband and father of her children, Johann (43) was shot dead in the early hours of Saturday on a small holding north east of Pretoria.
They had fallen asleep on a couch of the second storey of their home when robbers apparently came through a small window of the house.
Mariandra remembers how the robbers repeatedly asked for money and kept yelling: “We’re going to kill them, we’re going to kill them!”
Marianda's husband Johann was shot dead by intruders. PHOTO: Facebook
The experience was incredibly traumatic. “Johann was taken away from me in front of my eyes.”
The robbery was so terrible she can’t get it out of head, she says. “Unfortunately we all think things like this will never happen to us.”
On 12 October Mariandra will give birth to the couple’s fourth child, that day is also her birthday. “We had joked about the little “gift” that we were going to open,” says Mariandra. The couple have two more daughters, Mischa (4) and Majandré (2).
“Johann was so excited. We didn’t think we were going to have a son – our little crown prince,” she says sadly.
She describes Johann as an awesome superman, who never gave up and always had time for other people. “He was my everything. I will never find another man who will be as good to me and love me as much.” She and Johann were a couple for 10 years, married for 7.
Her three daughters are keeping her going, she says. “This is my purpose, my focus. That’s all I know right now.”
Read more:
Pregnant mom of three’s husband shot dead in front of her
