Afrikaner man of West Acres is currently on antiretroviral treatment after he was bitten by a black attacker who broke into their home in Boekenhout Street on Friday morning
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Man on ARVs after attack by squatter
MBOMBELA – A resident of West Acres is currently on antiretroviral treatment after he was bitten by a man who squats in the wetland near Town Lodge.
The squatter broke into their home in Boekenhout Street on Friday morning.
Mr Frederick van Heerden (27) and his partner, Ms Zanté Vlok (20), were actually awoken by their cat which had jumped out of the window at about 04:00. However, they would soon come face-to-face with their attacker and had to fight tooth and nail to protect each other before he eventually fled the scene.
According to Van Heerden he was the first to wake up after hearing a loud thud.
Startled, he rose from bed and walked to the kitchen to investigate what had caused the sound. An odd collection of the couple’s belongings had been stacked in front of their flat’s front door, which stood ajar. Vlok’s handbag lay on top of the items. Van Heerden recalled realising that they were being robbed. “I thought that I must have chased the thief away. I’d just closed the door when I heard Zanté scream,” he said. While Van Heerden was in the kitchen, the intruder somehow made his way to their bedroom.
According to Vlok, he used his hands to feel whether there was anyone on the bed, but he kept silent. When she saw his face, she screamed. He ran back to the kitchen where Van Heerden was positioned between him and the door.
“The intruder picked up a glass and threw it at me, but it just hit the door and shattered,” Van Heerden said. He grabbed the burglar around his neck and had him in a choke hold before the man bit him, leaving a bite mark on his left forearm.
Vlok had since entered the room and turned on the light, illuminating the stranger’s face. Although everything happened very quickly, Vlok recalled what she had felt when the light hit the burglar’s face. “It all felt so wrong, having that stranger in our home, someone who didn’t belong there,” she said.
“The man picked up a dumb-bell and hit Frederick in his face with it. I grabbed the closest thing I could find and hit him over the head with it repeatedly,” she said.
With an ironic smile, she added that it was a soup packet.
The man attacked Vlok with increased ferociousness and pulled out clumps of her hair. “He scratched me and hit me in the face with the dumb-bell,” she said.
During the skirmish, plates were knocked off the kitchen counter and the couple believe that the man had used one of these to stab Vlok in the hip.
The wound bled profusely, leaving blood splatters throughout their home.
Suddenly, the intruder made a run for it. He dashed into the courtyard of the property that Van Heerden and Vlok share with his parents, Mr Coen and Ms Nerien van Heerden.
“I went after him. He rolled a dustbin my way in an attempt to derail me, but I kept at it. After a while, I stopped chasing him,” Van Heerden said.
By that time Van Heerden’s parents had already informed the Boekenhout Street neighbourhood watch of the incident. Within minutes officials of Hi-Tech Security Nelspruit, concerned neighbours and the police were on the scene.
Van Heerden and Vlok went to the police station where an identikit was used to compile an image of the accused.
“We were ecstatic when we were called to identify him on Sunday,” said Van Heerden. “The man had been tracked down to the wetland close to Road Lodge, where he apparently lived,” Vlok added. According to the couple, ACS Security played a large role in catching the man.
The couple said that they were able to easily identify the man who had burgled their home. “When we arrived, he knew he was in big trouble. He started apologising before we even pointed him out,” she added.
According to Van Heerden and Vlok, the intruder must have gained access to their home by using a long object to hook their house keys off the kitchen table, as the kitchen’s window was open.
In as far as the thud that woke Frederick, they are convinced that their cat, Purrseidon, caused the noise.
“By jumping through the window he must have caused the window, which had merely been resting on its pin and hadn’t been hooked in, to slam shut,” said Van Heerden.
In doing so, they believe that the cat might have saved them from whatever fate the burglar had in store for them. “We’re lucky. It could have been a lot worse,” concluded Vlok.
Van Heerden has been placed on anti-retrovirals after being bitten by the burglar.
At time of going to print, the suspect had not yet been identified and it was not yet clear when he would appear in court. The couple expressed their gratitude towards the police for sterling service.
http://lowvelder.co.za/327066/man-on-arvs-after-attack-by-squatter/
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