‘Blue Bulls player’ leaves man in coma after club assault

A Blue Bulls player has been accused of assaulting a patron at a Pretoria east nightclub on Saturday morning, leaving the man in a coma, Pretoria East Rekord reports.

Louis Pienaar (38) was knocked unconscious at Madison Avenue nightclub in Die Wilgers, at around 04:00, allegedly by a Blue Bulls player.

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However, Blue Bulls CEO Barend van Graan could not confirm whether one of their players was involved in the assault.

“No comment from us at this stage, what we can say is we feel for the family (Pienaar) and we wish the victim a speedy recovery.”

Louis’s father Pine Pienaar told Rekord that his son was attacked by a Blue Bulls rugby player.

“My son and his cousin were on the dance floor (at Madison Avenue) when they bumped into a bunch of Blue Bulls players. There was an exchange of words between them which initially saw my son and his cousin leave the nightclub,” he said.

“While minding his own business at the club parking lot, the same group approached and beat my son to the ground.”

Pienaar said Louis was admitted to Die Wilgers hospital following the attack.

“He’s currently in ICU in a coma and doctors are monitoring him every 20 minutes.”

Louis’ friend and cousin Christian Cronje said they went to the club to have fun before they were confronted by the “rugby players”.

“Louis and I were dancing when we saw a group of guys on the dance floor. As we were staring at them, they asked what we were looking at,” he said.

“I could see that they wanted to start a fight, so I told my friend we must go home. The guys threatened to beat us. As Louis left the club, I had an exchange of words with one of them trying to defuse the situation.”

Cronje said some of the players assaulted Louis in the parking area.

“When I went out, I found that he had been knocked out cold. The guys did not check up on him, instead, they fled the scene, Cronje said.

“I managed to drive him to the nearest hospital,” he told Rekord.

Garsfontein police spokesperson Captain Ilze Jones confirmed that a case of assault was opened.

“We are busy investigation and at this stage, we cannot confirm who the suspect is.”

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