“NO newspaper, magazine or book is big enough to describe my son Ludi Vink,” were the words of his heartbroken mother, Danlee.
It has been a month since the brutal attack on her son at Mitzy’s Pub, in Randhart, on February 21, during which he was stabbed in the eye with a pool cue in front of her. Danlee and Ludi had gone to the pub to play pool that night, when a fight broke out and Ludi intervened to try to break it up.
Read: [GRAPHIC VIDEO]: Man declared brain dead after brutal attack in Randhart pub
“My son died trying to save someone and that was exactly how he was – he always wanted to help people. He was a true giver and would give his last R2 or cigarette to someone in need,” she said.
“We weren’t planning to stay at the pub long; I did not even have my handbag with me. I saw everything that happened – Ludi with open arms trying to stop the fight and the next moment with a pool cue in his eye and falling to the ground. I tried to push the attacker’s son away, who pulled the pool cue out of Ludi’s eye, and I confronted the attacker asking him ‘what have you done’,” Danlee said.
Ludi did not move after the attack, she said, he just gasped. According to doctors, the pool cue penetrated Ludi’s right eye socket and caused bleeding on his brain. The 30-year-old was declared clinically brain dead after the attack but he was kept on life support until February 23, when his organs were donated.
Danlee said she only found out after the incident that Ludi and her shared the same blood type, B positive.“It is very rare that a mother and her son share the same blood type as it is often different or the same as their father’s.”
She remembers Ludi as a normal boy who was naughty in a good way and had a passion for art. He taught himself to play the guitar and was very talented.
“He also had a connection with animals and would play with them for hours. He hated conflict and was always the one boosting negative people with positive thoughts,” said Danlee.
On the question of how she is coping, Danlee says she is taking it second by second. “I have received enormous support from my colleagues and family, especially colleagues Beverley de Wet and Jean Delainy and my cousin, Carol Pepper. They have helped me every step of the way and I am so thankful for them,” she said smiling.
At the time of the attack, Ludi had only been back in South Africa for six months and was waiting for the renewal of his visa while living with Danlee.
Beverley said in those six months mother and son were together all the time. “Where Danlee was, Ludi was,” she said.
Read: Ludi Vink- ‘You will live on in our hearts and in the world’
Danlee recently had his name tattooed on her left wrist, as Ludi was left handed. She also wears his belt every day and every night she lights a candle in memory of her son.
On Monday, March 27, she picked up Ludi’s ashes.
With tears in her eyes, Danlee said she was blessed to have a son like him.
He was so excited about his sister Danielle Steenekamp’s pregnancy.
“She is having a boy at the beginning of June and will name him Johannes Lodewyk Steenekamp, so a part of Ludi’s name is in there. He could not wait to become an uncle,” the heartbroken mother said.
There is still a long and sad road ahead for the family as the accused, Daniel Oliver Jacobus, is due to make another appearance in court on April 20.
Also Read: Ludi Vink’s attacker out on R5 000 bail
Jacobus handed himself over to police on February 24, three days after the fatal attack, and was granted R5 000 bail when he appeared in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court later that day. He is facing a murder charge.
Watch the video of Ludi doing a trick here:
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