Slain teen dreamt of being a chef
Jayden Louw (14) was outgoing and loved telling jokes that were very lame.
Jayden Louw (14) was outgoing and loved telling jokes that were very lame. It was his giggle that made his family laugh.
His passion was his bunny, Floofy and playing classic and electric guitar. He wanted to become a chef and regularly cooked meals for his father Duan, mom Lyall and little brother Damian (10).
“Jayden loved life and wanted still to do so much,” said Lyall Louw about her oldest son who was gunned down in their home on a small holding in the Welbekend area outside Bapsfontein on Saturday.
Lyall and the boys were home alone when there was a knock at the front door at about 13:00.
The five unknown men at the door were asking for another person who also lives in the house. Lyall had the door slightly open but tried to close it when she noticed the guns.
The robbers rammed their way in. They forced Lyall to a safe, which they plundered and then ordered her to another safe. Jayden saw how his mother was being manhandled.
“He tried to save me. I told him to run. I told him that he and his brother were more important than my life,” Lyall told Streek News.
She heard two shots from a pistol go off and then saw that Jayden was bleeding from a wound in his chest.
Lyall told the robbers to take whatever they wanted if they would just allow her to take her child to hospital.
The shooters then told her that Jayden would be “OK”.
The gang stole cellphones and laptops before they fled the scene on foot to where their vehicles were hidden away from the small holding.
With the help of Damian and a farmhand, Lyall loaded the heavily wounded Jayden into her car and rushed him to the Netcare Linmed Hospital in Benoni.
She also phoned her husband en route. Duan, who overhauls trucks and farms with sheep on their smallholding, was driving a client’s truck when he received the call.
He made it just in time to say farewell to his son. Jayden, who celebrated his 14th birthday in March, died soon after.
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“Someone please tell me why this had to happen!” pleaded a devastated Lyall on Tuesday morning.
“He was an amazing boy. He was everything and more,” she said.
Lyall described her son as a child who loved to read, but not children’s books.
“He loved his brother and his family was his life,” she said.
Jayden attended The Innovative Study and Tutor Centre in Benoni. His funeral arrangements were not yet known at the time of going to press.
Llewellyn Hemmens, AfriForum’s regional head of safety in the Northern region, described Jayden’s death as a tragedy and urged farmers to up their security.
Hemmens said crime is on the rise in the area, especially stock theft. He also suspects the attackers of the Louw family might be related to another incident where eight Mozambicans stole farm implements.
A case of house robbery and murder has been opened and police have launched a manhunt for the suspects.
The police’s media statement differs slightly from the family’s. It states that one of the family members ran to a safe to take a gun out but was overpowered and shot.
Anyone who might have information that can help in the investigation or assist in the apprehension of the suspects is urged to call the nearest police station or Crime Stop on 08600 10111.
