Petros Mabe has a permanent reminder of being shot by murder accused Johan Nell five years ago - he has to wear a colostomy bag forever.
Mabe (48) suffered near fatal gunshot wounds while collecting grass alongside a railway line situated near Nell's family farm.
Nell shot him twice once in the back and once in his hand.
Mabe told The Star that Nell robbed him of his livelihood and income, saying that while working as a grass collector he was making a monthly income of between R2 000 and R3 000 by selling grass to various farmers in North West.
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"I was never compensated for my injuries," he said.
Mabe recounted his ordeal just hours after Nell, now 18, appeared in court on charges of murder and attempted murder.
On Tuesday, Mabe expressed his anger at the justice department for not allowing him to testify against Nell when the matter was heard in the Swartruggens magistrate's court five years ago.
The court found Nell guilty of negligently using a firearm and gave him a suspended sentence because he was just 13 years old at the time.
Recounting his ordeal, Mabe said he was collecting grass with his then girlfriend near the railway line situated next to Nell's farm. With them was their then 8-year-old child, Serame.
"While I was cutting grass, I heard several shots being fired in the veld. Johan Nell came to the fence and asked me whether I am making a lot of money from selling grass.
"I then told him to ask his father how much he would charge me if I cut grass on their farm. On his return, he said his father said I should set the price myself.
A few minutes later, he lifted his hunting rifle and started firing shots at me," Mabe said.
He said he screamed to his girlfriend to run away and he took cover under the bridge only then realising he had been shot.
Mabe said he managed to run to the main road to seek a lift to hospital, but the first person to arrive was the boy's father, who offered to take him to hospital.
"I refused the offer because I feared that he might take me into the bush where he would possibly kill me," Mabe said.
He said a truck driver offered them a lift to Koster Hospital, where a traffic officer called the ambulance and police for him.
He was taken to Koster Hospital, then transferred to Rustenburg Hospital and later to Ga-Rankuwa Hospital, where he underwent surgery.
Nell is accused of four counts of murder and seven of attempted murder, and malicious damage to property after he allegedly went on a wild shooting spree in the informal settlement of Skierlik, outside Swartruggens in North West, on January 14.
His third court appearance follows the murders of three-month-old Keditlhotse Elizabeth Moithitlhi, her mother Anna Moithitlhi, 31,, 10-year-old Tshepo Motshelanoka and Sivuyile Danani, 35.
The case was postponed, for the third time, until March.
This came after his defence counsel urged the court to send the accused for psychiatric evaluation at Weskoppies Hospital in Pretoria.
The application for evaluation follows the recommendation of criminologist Dr Irma Labuschagne, who had made a preliminary test on the events of January 14.
Labuschagne told the court she had detected features of anti-social behaviour in the accused.
- This article was originally published on page 3 of The Star on February 13, 2008
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