An axe attack by a neighbour has left Danville resident Dirkie de Bruyn (27) with a memory loss and lingering injuries, his younger brother Johan said this week.
He told Rekord that Dirkie, who was being treated in Steve Biko Academic hospital, was unlikely to be the same again.
“We do not know how much damage has been done to Dirkie’s brain because his brain is swollen and the doctors are waiting for it to subside. He has an ear infection and can talk a bit and only remembers our parents and myself but not our aunt.”
Johan said his brother was supposed to have a skin graft but was too restless for the operation to be carried out with long-term success. He was in a coma until Tuesday.
His mother Ronel travelled down from Worcester in the Western Cape to be closer to Dirkie.
She said: “I love my son but his father and I will not be able to look after him since we are blind. We will need to get him into a shelter where they will be able to look after him but we do not have the money to pay for it as we live in a shelter for the blind ourselves.”
Dirkie and his neighbour had a fight in Knight Street on Friday night said the acting chairperson of Pretoria West Community Policing Forum (CPF) sector 2, Willie Cronje.
“The attacker hit Dirkie with an axe in his back near the spinal cord, the neck and head. After the altercation the attacker fled the scene leaving Dirkie in a pool of blood,” Cronje said.
The sector was called to the scene with their emergency response team (ERT), and called paramedics from Best Care to assist. Dirkie was taken to the hospital in a critical condition.
Cronje said Dirkie’s attacker was arrested by the sector members and the police early on Saturday morning. The axe was nowhere to be found.
Ronel said it was a shock to learn that Dirkie was in hospital.
“Dirkie apparently fought with his attacker after he confiscated drugs from him. When Dirkie was about to leave, the man attacked him from the back with an axe.”
She said although her son may not be the same again, was is thankful to the sector and ERT for saving his life and giving him another chance to live.
The family, who was returning to Worcester on Saturday, would appreciate any help, Ronel said.
A tenant where Dirkie lived said: “The two were fighting in the Wendy. Dirkie apparently took the attacker’s drugs and burned it and that is when things got out of hand.”
Caretaker of the premises Anton Wheeler said he was called to come help when a woman found Dirkie suffocating on his blood.
” I lifted Dirkie’s head to stop him from suffocating on his blood. I called the sector police and in three minutes they were here, they helped him and he was taken to hospital.”
Wheeler said the suspect came back to the premises hours later and was then arrested.
“The axe was found later in Staatsartillerie Street in Danville.”
Comment from the police could not be immediately obtained.
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Also read: Man axed by neighbour
