A couple who went to the Old Roodepoort Cemetery on Christmas Day, 25 December 2013 to pay a visit to a deceased loved one’s grave was confronted with a knife.
Barry Saayman (67) told the Record that he went to the cemetery at around 8.15am to visit his mother’s grave as it is tradition for him and his wife (65) and himself. They parked inside the premises, approximately 60 metres from the entrance, and put flowers on the grave. His wife took photos of the flowers with her brand-new cellphone and shared it in electronic messages to her children. Just minutes before his brother wished him a merry Christmas and warned him to be aware at the cemetery.
“I’ve been visiting this cemetery on Christmas for years and I promised him that I would be careful.
“I am always attentive when I go to the cemetery. I kept looking around me as we walked to the grave and put down the flowers.”
Afterwards the Saaymans walked back to the car, where a man emerged from a tree’s shadows and confronted Barry with a knife, saying “today I am going to kill you, white bastard”.
He stabbed Barry in the chest after which he held the knife to Barry’s wife’s throat as he grabbed her cellphone and gold rings from her hands.
Barry phoned his family after the man disappeared with their valuables, as the man didn’t know Barry had his cellphone in his pocket. He was treated at the Life Flora Clinic and got nine stitches for the stab wounds to his chest.
“It is a miracle. He stabbed me very close to my heart but I am still here, and my wife is physically fine, although emotionally distraught.”
Roodepoort SAPS spokesperson Vincent Mashiteng was not available for comment.
