HAZYVIEW – Community members are at their wits’ end as crime in this beautiful town has flared up once again.

“We don’t know who to turn to anymore, because the police just don’t follow up on cases,” said Thys, the father of Andries Ruthven (30), who miraculously survived being shot in the back for no apparent reason on Thursday evening.

Well-known Hazyview businessman shot
A trusted source told Lowvelder that they have up until now been very fortunate, but as the festive season is approaching there has been a definite increase of crime in the Numbi Park area.
“There has, however, been a decline at local resorts and areas other than Numbi Park,” said Joos van der Merwe of Spes-Plan.
According to Dohan Bezuidenhout of Hi-Tech Northern Regions, who was on the scene of Andries’ shooting, the incident happened at around 22:00 as he arrived home on their family farm just outside of town.

“Shortly after he left one of the restaurants we own, I received a chilling call that Andries had been shot. Upon arrival, I saw him, covered in blood with a massive hole in his chest,” he said, and added that although the police were quick to react, they had received no update on the case on Monday morning.

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The suspects had apparently tampered with his gate, preventing it from opening. This was all caught on camera and supplied to the SAPS.
Andries remained in his vehicle, but the suspects still opened fire and he was shot through the window of his bakkie. Numerous shots were fired, one of which hit Andries in the chest. He attempted to flee the scene, but was unable to do so.
Hi-Tech Medical Services rushed him to Mediclinic Nelspruit. The spokesman for the hospital, Robyn Baard, said on Monday that Andries is still in the intensive care unit where he was being treated for internal bleeding.
“His condition is stable and the pain caused by a broken rib and internal injuries is being well managed,” she said.
According to Thys, the bullet missed all vital organs, but it seems as if some shrapnel did damage his lungs.
Nothing was stolen during the incident.
“This happened three weeks after we were robbed of everything we possess. We caught it all on camera but a lack of vehicles is always Hazyview Police Station’s excuse for not investigating a case.
“We have good reason to believe that it was the same culprits,” Thys said.

No arrests have been made.

In a separate incident, a couple was robbed at gunpoint in Numbi Park on Wednesday.
One of the victims woke up at around midnight with a gun to his head before an unknown number of suspects entered their home, tied them up with clothes hangers and ransacked the house, before fleeing in the couple’s car.
The vehicle was later recovered but no arrests have been made.
Const Dudzile Malibe confirmed that two cases of attempted murder are being investigated is.

She could, however, not provide any other information.

She could also not confirm how many vehicles the station has to its disposal, nor could she tell the newspaper of any other crimes which recently occurred.

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