WHAT should have been a happy family braai to celebrate a four-year-old’s birthday on Sunday turned into a tragedy on Saturday when EMPD officer Martiens Bann was killed.
Speaking to Express earlier this week, Adele Botha said she and her husband Frikkie had just arrived at their Edleen home from the shops on Saturday afternoon.
The couple had been out to buy a few items to prepare for their son’s fourth birthday on Sunday. They were planning a braai for their little boy, which he would have enjoyed in the company of all his friends and family.
However, their plans were dramatically changed when armed suspects forced their way into the family home, demanding money, jewellery and keys to the cars.
“Luckily, our two children weren’t home. It was just my husband Frikkie, the gardener Prince and our maid, who was inside the house ironing,” Adele (34) recalled the story to EXPRESS.
Shortly after parking the family bakkie inside the yard, Adele and Frikkie (39) took the groceries into the house.
“I went to the swimming pool to check if it had been cleaned properly and my husband was at the storeroom at the front of the house. When the men entered the yard, they went straight for my husband, who was with the gardener at the time, and led them inside the house. One of them came to get me at the pool with his gun pointed at me and led me to the others inside the house,” said Adele.
Once inside, one suspect kept watch outside the home, while four, one armed with a gun and another with a pickaxe, kept watch over the four victims.
According to Adele, it was later discovered the suspect had left the pickaxe on a table, which the police took to use as evidence in the investigations.
“They demanded money, jewellery and car keys. One of them went into our bedroom and was collecting whatever valuables they could get and loaded them into our duvet. One of them grabbed the keys to the Renault and went outside,” she said.
After being told there was no cash in the house, Frikkie was forced to lead them to the house safe, which they cleared of about three hunting rifles, ammunition and more of Adele’s expensive jewellery.
“When they came back, they also ripped my silver necklace off, my watch, three bangles and a bracelet,” said Adele.
In the meantime, the teenage daughter of a tenant at the Botha home saw one of the suspects taking Adele at gunpoint and ran into their flat at the back.
According to Martiens Bann’s daughter-in-law, Drikie Swart, who is related to the tenants, the quick-thinking 15-year-old Zane hid under a bed and sent an SMS to her aunt, who then called Drikie.
“I was at home with my parents-in-law when I received the phone call. We quickly woke my father-in-law (Bann) and told him what was going on. He took his gun and radio and rushed over to the house,” Swart said.
Swart and Bann’s wife, Engela, waited on the pavement of their home and watched while the brave Bann, together with Swart’s adopted son, made his way to help.
When he arrived at the house, some of the suspects (four according to Botha) were in the silver Renault Sandero in the driveway.
“When Martiens asked them if everything was okay, they said yes, they were just there to do some painting. They even said he (Bann) could go ask the madam if he didn’t believe them.”
Bann, not convinced by the story, called for back-up on his radio. A grave mistake for which he paid dearly with his life.
The suspects fired two shots at him – the first bullet hit his hand, causing his pistol to drop to the ground. The second bullet went into his stomach and through his ribs.
Following the shooting, the suspects tried to escape but crashed the car into a wall on their way out, forcing them to leave the car behind. They left the scene one at a time, casually walking up the road to get away.
One of the men was later found hiding in a neighbour’s yard, Adele said.
“By that time Engela had run to Martiens. I also wanted to go but my daughter-in-law grabbed me, stopped me from going and said we should rather call for help. I called the fire station because we have a family member working there and asked him to send an ambulance,” Swart explained.
Although the family is still uncertain, Swart said they suspect the second bullet went straight into his heart.
From inside the house, Adele and her family heard shots being fired. In a matter of minutes the police, CPF and Netcare 911 were on the scene.
While still holding her husband, who was unresponsive, Engela said one of the suspects ran up the road, looking at her briefly as he ran past.
Chris Botha, Netcare 911’s media liaison officer, said paramedics arrived on the scene to find Bann had sustained life-threatening injuries.
“The advanced life support paramedic and his team worked fervently for about forty minutes in an attempt to resuscitate him. Tragically, despite their efforts, Bann was declared dead at the scene at 1.40pm,” Botha said in a statement.
Although still shaken, the Botha family is trying to settle down following the traumatic event. Their son’s party was also postponed.
“We had to obviously postpone the braai to another time. We also didn’t tell the kids the full story about the shooting. We just said we had to cancel the party because people tried to steal the car,” Adele explained.
