The late Kaizer Chiefs defender Luke Fleurs and his sister, Sydni. Photos: Instagram & TikTok
A day after the arrest of six suspects in connection to the hijacking which cost Kaizer Chiefs player Luke Fleurs his life, the soccer fraternity paid tribute to him at a memorial service at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.
The 24-year-old Fleurs was killed last week during a hijacking attempt at the Shell petrol station at Constantia service centre in Florida, Johannesburg, on Wednesday, 3 April.
The soccer player’s sister, Sydni Fleurs, and girlfriend, Lailaa Craayenstein, expressed their anguish and pain of the devastating loss.
Luke, who spent most of his childhood in Mitchells Plain on the Cape Flats before moving to Fish Hoek with his family, was one of three siblings. Apart from Sydni, he also had an older brother, Joshua.
Sydni shared a photo on her Instagram Stories of her brother getting out of his fiery red whip which he bought in October last year when he joined Kaizer Chiefs after his stint at SuperSport United.
“I hate this car. I hate this life. I hate everything man,” she captioned her Story.
Fleurs was most likely targeted by the hijackers for his sporty VW Golf 8 GTI when he pulled into the petrol station on the corner of Hendrik Potgieter and 14th Avenue around 8.30pm.
A new Golf 8 GTI sells for R669 300 and is the “bigger brother” of the VW Polo which is one of the vehicles most targeted by hijackers.
ALSO READ: Hijacking horrors and hotspots: How Luke Fleurs ended up paying highest price for his Golf GTI
The soccer player was gunned down by one of the four suspects who allegedly followed him in a white BMW 1 Series to the filling station.
Sunday World reported that, in CCTV footage obtained by the police, Fleurs fought back when the hijackers tried to steal his car.
According to a source, the footage shows four people wearing balaclavas and caps sitting in the BMW. He said that after a while, two people got out of the BMW, while two others remained in the car.
“They went to the VW Golf and opened the rear doors. Two young boys in Fleurs’ car got out of the vehicle and ran towards the back of the petrol station to hide. They then pulled Fleurs out of his vehicle, and he ran towards the petrol station shop.
“The two hijackers got into his car, and as they were about to drive off with Fleurs’ car, he ran towards it and fought those hijackers. He ran to his car, grabbed the door, and tried to remove the hijacker, who was in the driver’s seat,” the source revealed to the publication.
During the scuffle, Fleurs yelled, “No malome, you cannot do this”, to the hijacker in the driver’s seat.
The hijackers overpowered the footballer, and one of them shot him at close range in the left-hand side of his upper chest. Fleurs passed away en route to a medical centre.
ALSO READ: Motaung Jnr – Chiefs’ players wanted to pay tribute to fallen soldier Fleurs
The six suspects were traced and arrested in Slovoville, Soweto, in the early hours of Wednesday, 10 April. Police have also managed to recover his vehicle which has been stripped for parts.
“When the vehicle was recovered on Monday, it was already stripped. Police believe that the suspects are part of a syndicate that is responsible for car hijackings in Gauteng, and the search for more suspects is continuing,“ Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo said.
The men will appear in the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court on Friday, 12 April.
Meanwhile, Fleurs’s girlfriend posted a video on TikTok. Her heartfelt words reflect the depth of their bond and the shared vision they held for their life together. The video clip consists of a series of photos of her and Fleurs.
The video starts with the words: “We had plans, but God had others.”
She captioned the clip: “You come to realise that some things you haven’t accepted yet because there’s a thin line between accepting something and suppressing it.”
“A thin line between overcoming something and avoiding it. A small window between today and tomorrow. And an even smaller window between checking up on someone or just passing the thought and not doing it at all.
“I feel guilty, angry, frustrated, but most importantly, I feel powerless. Because there’s nothing I could do besides figure out which side of the line is suppression or acceptance when it came to the next step. I’m so sorry this world broke you.
She ends off with, “Rest in peace. In this life and the next”.
NOW READ: The most dangerous hijacking hotspots you should avoid
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