Pretoria resident to live with bullet in his body

A resident from the Moot will probably have to live with a bullet in his body for the rest of his life after he was shot and injured by alleged cable thieves in February, Rekord Moot reports.

“I went in for an operation last Thursday where doctors attempted to remove the bullet in my lower body,” said Wonderboom-South resident Francois Lubbe.

He said doctors, however, were unsuccessful in removing the bullet.

“They informed me that should they attempt to remove the bullet, the possibility was that I could be paralysed for the rest of my life,” he said.

“The bullet was next to my spine, complicating the situation.”

For now, Lubbe said he was taking it “day by day”.

“I feel a bit better, but some tasks are still difficult to perform,” he said.

He said he also returned to work this week.

“My tasks take me a bit longer to complete, but I have to go on,” he said.

Lubbe was shot on 28 February in his driveway after he went outside to inspect a “loud bang” noise in the early hours of that morning.

He said his wife woke him up and told him that she thought criminals were stealing cables outside.

“I immediately got up, grabbed the house keys and went outside,” he said.

“As I was standing in the driveway, I turned around to tell my wife to stand back,” he said.

“The moment I turned around, I heard a gunshot and I fell.”

He said he was hit in his lower back.

Lubbe said it was not the first time that cable thieves have stolen cables in their street.

“They have stolen all the copper cables in the street,” he said.

“That Friday they stole the last set of copper cables. The street lights being off permanently also contributes to the issue.”

Pretoria Moot police spokesperson Captain Anton Breedt said no cable theft case was recently reported at the police station.

Ward councillor Elmarie Linde urged residents to report cable theft to the police and metro police.

“Cable theft is a major problem and there seems to be a syndicate who commits these crimes.”

She said this was especially bad in areas where there were still copper cables.

“Please help police and metro police by reporting suspicious people so they can try to arrest these people,” she said.