Cape Town - A 5-year-old Delft girl is to undergo surgery to remove a bullet lodged in her foot after she was wounded during an argument her uncle had with another man.
Firous Lodewyk and her mother Shamiela Lodewyk were visiting her uncle, Samuel Delaney, in Leiden on Monday when an alleged gangster, known to the family as Staggie, entered the house and demanded that Delaney pay him money he owed him.
“We were sitting in the bedroom when he shot Samuel in the leg. He walked away and we heard a second gunshot. We then realised Staggie had shot through the (wooden) wall and the bullet hit Firous,” Delaney’s girlfriend, Bahia Isaacs, said on Tuesday.
Firous was wounded in her left foot, she said.
Shamiela Lodewyk said the child was on her lap when she was shot.
A shocked Lodewyk said she realised how close her daughter had come to death.
“Things could’ve ended very differently,” she said, and added she had been at her child’s bedside since.
Tygerberg Hospital spokeswoman Laticia Pienaar said they had admitted Delaney and the little girl – both in a stable condition – on Tuesday.
Firous’s father, Sean Kroutz, a self-proclaimed gangster, said Delaney had wanted to withdraw from business dealings he had had with Staggie. He did not elaborate, but said Staggie allegedly “wanted to send a message”.
“Once you start business with him, there’s no way you can stop,” Kroutz said.
Anyone with info can contact Wiseman Hagile on 021 954 9062, or CrimeStop on 08600 10111 or SMS Crime Line 32211.
Cape Times