Family in hospital after brazen home invasion
In a video that has since gone viral on social media, the alleged stabber is cornered down the road from the block of flats and is stoned by the mob.
RESIDENTS in Wentworth are still reeling in shock following a brazen stabbing incident on Hime Street on Friday afternoon, 8 January.
This comes after a knife-wielding man walked into a flat and stabbed three members of a family in full view of a six-year-old boy.
Eyewitness and first respondent, Mitchel Taylor, said the man initially walked into his flat, stood over him and left before he proceeded next door, just a stone throw away, to commit the alleged crime.
“He first stabbed the granny, Avis Gertze, 74. Her daughter, Melissa Hargreaves, 41, tried to push him off with a chair, he then came after her. Her husband, Anthony, 61, was asleep in the bedroom. The man then went into the bedroom and locked himself inside with him. He then just started stabbing him. I was called in as he was still inside the flat. I rushed to get my broom, got someone to accompany me, and then we went inside. He the man stormed out with a bloodied knife still in hand,” he said.
In a video that has since gone viral on social media, the alleged stabber is cornered down the road from the block of flats and is stoned by the mob. According to Taylor, they were apprehending the man as he was attempting to flee. He said they stoned him to disarm him as he still had the knife on hand.
Upon questioning, the man told the mob that he was instructed by Satan to carry out the gruesome attack.
“According to the law, we were exercising a citizen’s arrest. We pursued the criminal because we were not going to sit back. We had to corner him off and destabilise him. I had to leave the scene while the police van was awaited and return to attend to those who were injured,” he said.
He added that as a diabetic, Gertze had to be kept overnight in Wentworth Hospital for doctors to stabilise her before being moved to another hospital. The Hargreaves couple are also still in hospital receiving the necessary care for their treatment. Gertze’s eldest daughter, Jackie Naicker, said the six-year-old boy is suffering trauma from the experience. She, together with the help of some neighbours were left to clean up the bloodied scene. Chairman of the Wentworth CPF, Pastor Donny Anderson, said the attack was done for no apparent reason.
“SAPS was on the scene. They also went back to the house on Saturday, 9 January to do investigations and collect evidence,” he said.
Spokesperson for the Wentworth police branch, Captain Mbuso Gumede said the motive for attacking the victims is still unknown.
“Police detectives are investigating a case of attempted murder. A 20-year -old male was arrested and detained. He will appear at the Durban court on Monday, 11 January.”
