Heartbroken father of slain Brandon Pretorius says family is ‘destroyed’

The heartbroken father of Brandon Pretorius, 27, who died from injuries sustained in an assault on 25 April, says not a day passes that he doesn’t cry for his son.

Ruan Beetge, 35, and Gordan Westraad, 45, are accused of Pretorius’ murder. They have appeared in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court to apply for bail, but the application was postponed to 3 June.

‘I blame myself’

“I hate them. There hasn’t been a day that has gone by that I haven’t cried my eyes out,” Dawie Pretorius said. He said his children don’t go out much and he stayed at home to babysit his granddaughter.

“I waited for Brandon every day with his baby in my arms when he came home from work. Now I blame myself because I begged him to accompany his sister to a show that night. It was her birthday on 25 April, and he died on his birthday, 5 May.”

Pretorius said he saw how the last punches hit his son and had to rush Brandon to hospital in his bakkie.

Trauma and financial struggles

“We can’t sleep. Our family is destroyed. I don’t think anyone knows what those pigs did to us. We now have to sell some of our furniture to a second-hand store to stay alive.

“We are quickly falling behind financially and I can’t stop it. The panic among everyone is so sad and I don’t know what to do to save us,” he said.

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‘Premeditated and planned behaviour’

Criminal law expert Cornelia van Graan said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) must take this type of crime seriously and prosecute it properly.

“The last few years, one has heard quite a lot about these types of cases. The question is: what creates the atmosphere in society that makes members of the public so susceptible to violence?

“To stalk someone and further assault them indicates a type of premeditated and planned behaviour. The violence is not just confined to the bar,” she said.

It was time the NPA prosecuted these crimes with the seriousness deserved, Van Graan said.

“Justice must not only be done, but must be seen to be done. So society can see that the commission of these types of offences will not be tolerated or accepted.”

An ‘angry nation’

Rural criminologist Witness Maluleke said South Africa is an angry nation who often uses violence to solve personal disputes.

“Causing the death of another person with clear intention remains an absolute solution to provocations and it is normalised by many of us. The neglect to see goodness in others, tolerance and humanity is currently forgotten.

“The last resort is to take another person’s life without any remorse and it is becoming extreme, with limited responsive measures, which should be psychological and social, coupled with a weak criminal justice system, making it impossible to root out,” Maluleke said.

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