PETRUS Johannes (63) and his wife Cynthia (60) expected a quiet and serene environment when they moved to KwaMbonambi from Vryheid in August last year.
But an incident which occurred on Saturday morning has left the elderly couple questioning whether their move was the right decision.
The Johannes’ home was one of three that were broken into by robbers between Friday night and Saturday morning in KwaMbonambi.
However Petrus’ quick thinking and bravery led to a suspect being shot and killed after he had entered their home.
‘I woke up at around 3:40am. As I was about to light a cigarette I noticed some movement in the kitchen.
‘With my wife lying next to me, I realized someone else was in the house.
‘I got up, ran for my gun safe and took out my revolver.
‘By the time I ran to the kitchen, he saw me coming, turned around and ran for the back door.
‘I fired one shot. I wanted to shoot him in the leg to stop him.
Having missed with his first shot, Petrus then ran to the back door, but hesitated to go outside as he feared he would be shot because the suspect was armed with a shotgun.
As Petrus opened the door that was already ajar, the suspect fired a shotgun round at him, which missed and hit the wall.
Petrus reacted quickly by returning fire, but wasn’t sure if he hit the suspect.
‘I couldn’t see anything as it was still dark. I didn’t want to go outside because I didn’t know if there were more of them around.
‘That’s when I shouted to my wife to phone the police.’
Body Found
Members of KwaMbonambi police were quickly on the scene and searched the property for evidence.
At around 6:30am the police found the suspect’s body on the other side of the road.
It turns out that Petrus’ second shot hit the suspect in the chest, subsequently killing him moments after gunfire was exchanged.
KwaMbonambi police spokesperson, Captain Nkosingiphile Mthethewa, could not confirm whether more than one suspect was involved in the incident.
‘A case of house burglary as well attempted murder has been opened and we are investigating,’ said Mthethwa.
‘Three other homes in the area were robbed that same night, but for now we cannot speculate that the same suspects were involved.
‘At one of the homes a motorbike was stolen, but we recovered it not long after it was taken,’ she said.
Empty shotgun rounds were found next to the dead suspect, but the shotgun itself could not be located.
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