Hotel owner recovering after brazen attack
One of the three men was reportedly so badly beaten up, he pretended to be dead.
A chef, who works at the Leriba Hotel and Spa in Centurion, pretended to be dead so that a group of men would stop hitting him during a robbery over the weekend.
Peet du Preez, the owner of the hotel, as well as an ex-employee were also injured during the home invasion.
The attack happened on Saturday evening around 19:00 when the six assailants gained access to Du Preez’s home on the hotel premises in Clubview.
“Peet sustained a fracture to his nose and eye,” local ward councillor Ina Strydom said.
Strydom said all three men were “doing better emotionally”.
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Speaking to Rekord at the weekend, she said the three men were in Du Preez’s house when their attackers broke in.
Strydom said the robber found the chef, Robert, downstairs having his dinner and ambushed him.
“They assaulted Robert and demanded he hand over the keys to the safe. He was then assaulted repeatedly and it was at that point that he pretended to be dead,” she told Rekord.
“The robbers dragged him upstairs to Peet, who was already asleep when the men broke in.”
She said the robbers tied Du Preez up along with Robert and the former employee, who was also in the house at the time.
“Peet was, however, badly beaten up as he refused to give them the keys to the safe. Somehow, the men still managed to find the keys and stole firearms from the safe,” Strydom said.
Provincial police spokesperson Captain Kay Makhubela confirmed that Robert and the former employee were tied up with a coat hanger while the robbers beat Du Preez demanding money.
Three cellphones, an undisclosed amount of cash and two laptops were understood to have been stolen.
Du Preez was taken to a local hospital while the other two victims were treated for their injuries on the scene.
Makhubela said the suspects remained unknown.
This brazen attack on the three men comes just weeks after a separate unrelated armed robbery in Centurion.
Last month, an unknown number of shots were fired in a botched armed robbery at the Blue Valley mall.
The robbers fled upon the arrival of Monitor Net private security company officers, according to spokesperson JP le Roux.
They were called to the scene after security guards at the mall spotted a suspicious vehicle.
“One of the suspects started shooting at our officer. A bullet grazed his arm,” Le Roux said.
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Although three of the suspects were able to flee the scene in a vehicle, the fourth suspect was arrested at a nearby property by Scorpion Security.
They were said to have fled in a Toyota Corolla.
Shortly after, Wierdabrug police spokesperson Captain Agnes Huma said they were searching for more suspects in connection with the botched robbery.
A 38-year-old man was arrested following the robbery.
“It is alleged the man entered the shop and held an employee at gunpoint. He asked the employee to show him where they keep their cellphones,” Huma said.
“The victim told him the person keeping the keys was not in the shop as he was out.”
It was then when the robber saw a laptop on a table, took it and placed it in the bag he was carrying.
“He rushed out and saw the security and started shooting,” Huma said, adding that a security officer was injured in the right hand.
She said that the laptop was found in a dustbin.
“A case of business robbery and attempted murder was opened for investigation,” Huma said.
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