When Errens Oosthuizen was woken up by a banging noise on Tuesday 4 August, he first thought it was his cat, but it was an intruder …
Thought he would be killed yet alive to tell the tale, the 52-year-old spoke to the Herald about how he came face to face with an intruder who forced his way into his home through a small window.
Oosthuizen, who lives alone in his flat, said what terrified him was even after the intruder had seen him, he continued to force his way in.
He said it was at 3am when he heard a loud bang. He went to check the rest of his flat but couldn’t find anything that could have triggered the alarm.
He went back to bed, but at about 5am there was another banging noise; only this time it was a man wielding a butcher knife.
“My eyes immediately met those of the man who was at the window breaking into my home. He was also shocked to see me,” Oosthuizen said.
He said even when he shouted at him to stop, the intruder carried on to force his way in.
“I thought to myself this man is dangerous. I’m old and he looked younger, probably in his 20s and stronger too, he could overpower me and possibly kill me so I did not want to take any risks. I ran to my bedroom, locked myself inside and pressed the panic button,” he said.
Meanwhile he could hear the intruder was making himself at home.
I could hear him walking and stepping on the broken glass. This was scary, I even put furniture against the door so that even if he tried breaking the door he wouldn’t be able to open it. I was too scared to go out,” Oosthuizen said.
He said luckily, his security company arrived in less than five minutes and managed to arrest the intruder.
“With that knife he definitely would’ve killed me. I think he was looking for something to make a quick buck.”
Although he is glad that he escaped unharmed, he said the entire incident has affected him badly as it reminded him of his 2005 ordeal when he was hijacked.
I remember how they stabbed me and now I see this person wielding a knife, ready to charge. I really thought I was going to die, and cannot sleep since the incident,” Oosthuizen said emotionally.
