UPDATE – WATCH VIDEO: Rolex attack out of the blue
He has to go back to hospital after three months to undergo another procedure.
A Centurion man shot for his Rolex watch last month was discharged from hospital this week.
Danie van Reenen (51) said the attack at the Eldoraigne Village Shopping Centre in Centurion came out of the blue.
“I do not remember much. I remember coming from the toilet and being attacked by some guys,” he told Rekord in an interview.
Van Reenen was shot in his stomach on 20 September when he fought with three armed men who took his watch.
He and a woman friend Ulandi Hertzog were at the centre to buy some groceries when both of them needed to use the bathroom.
Hertzog heard an uproar outside and she saw her friend trying to fight off armed men.
She locked herself in the bathroom and heard two gunshots fired. One of the shots missed and the other one hit him in the stomach.
He was rushed to hospital where he underwent an emergency operation.
Van Reenen said the doctor told him the bullet was stuck in his pelvic bone.
“He said it would cause more harm to have it removed.”
Van Reenen said this had been a very traumatic event that left him with great sadness.
“I have lost something of sentimental value, and even more so, I have to pay more than R750 000 in medical costs,” he said.
“I fought for my watch, because it is not about the value. I have had that watch for more than 20 years.”
Van Reenen said he regarded himself as lucky to be alive.
“A paramedic said if he weren’t so close, I might not have made it.”
A woman working in a shop at the centre witnessed the whole scene.
“When the thugs sped off, she jumped out of her car and rushed over to me with a towel to try and control the bleeding,” said Van Reenen.
He said he had to go back to hospital after three months to undergo another procedure.
He said the police had not made contact with him to take statements from him or Hertzog.
Police spokesperson Constable Tumisang Moloto had previously said no arrests had been made and information is been followed up.
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