A woman from crime-ridden Kameeldrift, north of Pretoria, lay bound next to her murdered husband for about four hours on Tuesday before managing to free herself.
Three armed robbers broke into the house at about 02:00 on Tuesday and killed Renier Boshoff, 67, with a shot to the head.
The smallholding where he had been living with his wife Daphne, 60, for 21 years is only a few metres away from the luxury Kievits Kroon estate. It was the umpteenth attack on residents of this area.
Marius Boshoff, 24, the couple’s youngest son, said the attackers broke through the burglar-guard of a window next to his parents’ bedroom to gain entry to the house.
Shot while trying to sit up
“My parents only woke up when their bedroom light was turned on. While my dad was still trying to sit up, the robbers shot him in his head in the bed.
“Then they took my mother through the house and asked for her money, firearms and jewellery. She said she didn’t have the keys to the safe – that they were with one of her sons.”
The robbers then took Daphne back to the main bedroom. “They tied her hands and feet with ropes and shoved a tie in her mouth.
“She thought they were going to hurt her as well,” said Marius, sobbing.
She managed to free her hands and feet and shout for help only at 06:00. By then the robbers had made off with stolen clothing and a computer. The computer’s hard drive was later found in the veld on the smallholding.
Daphne is a teacher at Knikkie Knakkie pre-school in Wonderboom, Pretoria, while her husband had run his own nursery on the smallholding.
Anarchy
Johan Castelyn, 39, a neighbour, said this was not the first attack on the couple.
“About two months ago, someone threw a stone through the bedroom window every second week while Mrs Boshoff was sitting reading.
“It was just one person every time, because we picked up only one set of footprints near the house.”
Marius said thieves had twice tried to steal his mother’s car, and on another occasion his father’s bakkie, but failed.
DA ward councillor Piet van der Watt said: “Is this revenge that’s being taken on law-abiding citizens? Is anarchy reigning there?”
He said it is the duty of the state to protect residents.
“The police should be driving up and down during the night and day to protect us so that we can sleep peacefully in order to be able to create work the next day.”
Marius said he was surprised to see that the police had responded so swiftly after the neighbours raised the alarm, because on previous occasions when his parents phoned the police, they hadn’t responded.
Besides his wife and Marius, Boshoff also leaves two other sons, Renier jnr, 28, and Werner, 25.
– Beeld
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