'They came to kill'

22/10/2008 09:16 - (SA)

Daniel Maluleke, Beeld

Pretoria - "They didn't come to steal, they came to kill," said a
devastated Veronica Roach after a group of robbers murdered her
husband, Rudi, 50, in the early hours of Tuesday morning on their
smallholding at Kameeldrift north-east of Pretoria - for two
cellphones and a few cans of beer.

Rudi was a teacher who had taught at Zwartkop High in Centurion for
the past four years.

He and his wife would have celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary
in a few months.

The couple's son, Rüdiger, 16, was shot three times.

Rüdiger, a pupil at John Vorster Technical High School in Pretoria,
was in a serious condition in the Montana Hospital in the city.

Died on the scene

Veronica and her daughters, Bonny Bekker, 26, and Kira Roach, 24, said
two armed men burst into their home at about quarter to one in the
morning and went to the couple's bedroom.

Rudi started shouting. The robbers ordered him to shut up and warned
him if he made any move, they would shoot him.

"My husband shouted loudly and they started shooting. He was killed on
the spot," Veronica said.

Her son emerged from his bedroom to see what the commotion was.

Veronica said she was lying on the bed. The robbers scrambled over her
to get to her son.

They shot him twice in the shoulder. Rüdiger ran away.

Still in hospital

"They followed him and another bullet hit him in the back."

The family said if Rüdiger hadn't reached his parents' bedroom so
quickly, something might have happened to his mother.

The robbers fled with the couple's cellphones.

Later empty beer cans were found in the yard. The robbers had taken
the beer from the outside fridge.

Bekker and her husband lived in a separate house on the smallholding.

They heard the shots and went to investigate.

"We couldn't believe that my dad had been murdered.

"We were shocked to see that my brother had also been shot. My husband
and I immediately called the police and took my brother to the
hospital," she said, crying.

Kira was in Johannesburg when the attack occurred.

- Beeld

Source:News24

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2413868,00.html