Elmar van Eeden survives confrontation with attacker on neighbour's property, stabbed nine times:
Seven out of nine of Elmar van Eeden's stab wounds were nearly fatal.
19 November 2013 Estella Naicker
A Sunny Ridge resident was stabbed nine times while trying to protect his neighbours' property from a burglar.
Elmar van Eeden was rushed into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on Thursday afternoon with injuries that left no doubt in his mind that his attacker meant to kill him. His lung had been punctured and another knife wound narrowly missed his heart after being deflected by a rib.
Mr van Eeden said he had taken his pistol with him to contain the burglar, taking it for granted that the burglar would fear the gun and obey his instruction to sit still and wait for the police.
While police Captain Shooz Magudulela, and Mr van Eedens neighbours, Hannes and Hannetjie Conradie, commend him for his selfless bravery, Mr van Eeden said that he would never take that chance with his life again.
"Next time, I will shout from my side of the fence", he said, with a painful smile.
Mr van Eeden and his wife, Charmaine, were returning home from town just after 1pm last Thursday when they noticed that their neighbours garage door was standing open and there was a stranger in the yard.
"I went home and called to the man over the fence, asking him what he was doing and he told me that he was working", said Mr van Eeden, who knew that the man had to be lying, as his neighbours were out of town.
The Van Eeden's property was similarly broken into in September. When their neighbours, the Conradies, observed a stranger in the Van Eeden's yard with the Van Eeden's power tools in hand and questioned the stranger, he also claimed to be working on the property.
"My wife got the police on the phone while I got my pistol inside the house and jumped over the fence into the neighbours yard. I walked to him and asked him to sit down, intending to contain him until the police got there. Instead of sitting still, he ran around the house. When he approached the back fence he turned around and he had a knife in his hand", continued Mr van Eeden.
"I took a step back and stumbled and fell. As I was trying to get up, he was on me and started stabbing. I tried to get the knife from him but I was too slippery from all the blood".
Mr van Eeden admitted that at that stage, the thought that he might be killed did cross his mind, however, his primary concern was keeping the burglar from scaling the section of the fence that borders his property.
"My wife was on the other side of that fence", he explained.
Asked how he felt about his decision to confront the burglar, in hindsight, Mr van Eeden responded, "I won't do something like that again. I regret that I jumped over the fence after what happened. If you look at the stab wounds, you will see that he was aiming for where my vital organs are situated. Seven of the nine stab wounds were nearly fatal".
Mr van Eeden was rushed to the hospital by his wife. The burglar, who stole Mr van Eeden's pistol, scaled the fence and ran off after the stabbing. He was arrested in the vicinity of Pick 'n Pay, the same day.
"He was easily identifiable because he was covered in blood, and the gun was recovered", said Mrs van Eeden. "I don't hold what my husband did against him. This is the kind of person he is. Im just glad he is alive".
Mr van Eeden and his wife are now concerned about what will happen when the burglar is released.
"We don't know if he's going to come back, and if he comes back, will he bring his friends?" speculated Mrs van Eeden.
"I want to get electric fencing around the house. We have to pay for our own security because the government is failing to protect us. I will have to pay for my own medical treatment and Im sure I paid for the burglar's treatment as well", complained Mr van Eeden.
Mr and Mrs Conradie said that, thanks to Mr van Eeden's intervention, all the power tools that the burglar had taken from their garage were recovered.
"We want to thank him for his bravery. He put his life on the line for us", they said.
"What this guy did was very brave and his effort is appreciated by the police. He chose to try to help when most people would just look away", said Captain Magudulela. "Confronting a criminal is, however, very dangerous and what I advise residents to do if they observe a burglary, is to stay out of sight, call the police and look for clues that will help you describe the burglar well, or identify him later. You should also observe their movements carefully. The more information the police have, the easier it is to make an arrest", he concluded.
http://www.looklocal.co.za/looklocal/content/en/newcastle/newcastle-news-section?oid=7952867&sn=Detail&pid=4596133&Man-confronts-burglar--stabbed-nine-times
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