A RICHARDS Bay pensioner escaped with a gunshot wound to the leg after he was attacked and shot by an armed robber in his Veldenvlei home on Monday morning.
Thinus Rautenbach (79) and his wife Marietjie were held up at gunpoint after two suspects entered their home at 10am.
According to Thinus, he was confronted by a suspect at the doorway as he approached to close his back gate.
‘I knew immediately that this was a robbery and I turned and ran into the house.
‘The gunman grabbed me in the passage and a scuffle unfolded as we wrestled on the ground. I tried to keep the weapon away from my face.
‘I held down his hand with the weapon and when I tried to punch him he pulled the trigger and the bullet penetrated the front of my leg and exited at the back.
‘I was fortunate that the bullet did not hit the bone or any arteries.’
Bleeding, Thinus was taken into his bedroom and ordered to hand over all his firearms from the safe.
Another suspect had entered the house and held up his wife at the front door and fled with the laptop, cell phones and wallet.
