Durban - Robbers stole an undisclosed amount of cash, jewellery and a car from a Shallcross business couple after stabbing the man 14 times, puncturing his lung, during a home robbery.
Linisha Pillay, who resides separately from her parents - businessman Dan Pillay, and his wife, Jenny, both 60 - said on Friday morning her mother had been in the bedroom of their Zoutpansberg Loop Street home when two men pushed their way in, after her father had unlocked his house door, to leave home for the family’s grocery shop in the same vicinity.
She said the intruders pushed her father inside the house and turned him around to face the wall before stabbing him.
“They went wild, stabbing, punching and kicking him in the dining room and into the lounge.
“One of them went upstairs and pulled my mother down the flight of stairs. They made my father sit on the couch. They showed her what they had done to him. They tied his hands with a cable tie and forced him up the steps. They literally dragged him,” she said.
The men demanded valuables and ransacked the rooms.
They locked the couple inside the room before fleeing.
Linisha said her mother was in shock and did not know if she should press the panic button.
She also did not realise they had a phone in the room.
She opened the window and began screaming for help. Then she phoned her son and a relative for help.
She was not aware that the robbers had left with her car.
Neighbours rushed to the house and one kicked a hole into the room door, crawled in, and managed to pull out Dan Pillay.
He was later taken to hospital where doctors told the family he had been stabbed 14 times. The knife had also pierced his lung.
Pillay’s family believe that his padded fleece jacket could have saved him. More than 11 knife slits could be seen on the back of his jacket.
“Even though my mother gave them everything they had, they insisted on more. They left him for dead in the room. He was drenched in blood and some of the neighbours applied pressure to his wounds while waiting for an ambulance to arrive,” Linisha said.
The couple have two children and one grandchild.
Police spokeswoman Lieutenant Nqobile Gwala confirmed the incident.
She said cash, jewellery and a silver VW Polo were stolen.
No arrests or recoveries have been made and a case of house robbery was opened at Chatsworth SAPS.
Daily News