A Rustenburg man was seriously injured after a burglar who broke into his neighbors and fled to his home.
Abel Pienaar, 42, was admitted to a local hospital’s emergency unit after a robber shot him in a complex in the neighborhood of Safari Gardens on Saturday morning.
The accountant was shot in the stomach at about 1.30am when a burglar entered the family’s home after Pienaar went to retrieve their budgie, Buddy. The family forgot Buddy outside.
Capt. Police spokesperson Elsabé Augoustides says three burglars are believed to have been at another unit in the complex where they stole electronic equipment.
“In one of the rooms, they bumped one of the oldest boy’s foot. He woke up, sounded the alarm and they fled. One then went to the neighbors next door, ”says Augoustides.
Pienaar opened the sliding door to bring Buddy in when the burglar came in a while later.
“He put the bird down and when he turned around, the man was standing in his living room.”
His wife, Lizelle Pienaar, 41, says her husband turned to close the security gate when the man was standing in their living room.
“He says he didn’t do or say anything. The next moment the man picked out a weapon and fired immediately, ”says Lizelle.
That bullet did not hit Pienaar.
Lizelle says Pienaar feared for her and their three children aged 10, 14 and 19 years old. He just wanted to get the man out of the house.
Pienaar managed to run the man out of the house and followed him in the process.
The burglar, about three meters from Pienaar, turned and shot him in the stomach.
Lizelle says her husband, who has his own business, sometimes works late. The rest of the family was sleeping on the upper floor of the duplex apartment when the incident happened.
“The shots woke us up – it sounded like lightning in my house. It was the scariest sound, I never want to experience it again in my life. ”
“The doctor is very positive that he will recover, but it will be a long road to recovery. We remain positive. “
Nothing was stolen from the Pienaars in the incident.
Police are investigating a charge of housebreaking and theft for the events at the neighbors and a charge of attempted murder for the incident at the Pienaars.
This comes after Gerald Spalding, 54, was shot four times in an armed robbery in Rustenburg on Thursday morning.
Augoustides says police are investigating the possibility that the incidents may be related on Thursday and Saturday, as they were in the vicinity of Safari Gardens and Cashan on both days.
