Cape Town – “One of us were going to get hurt, but it was never my intention to kill him.”
So said the man who stabbed a robber to death last week.
The 55-year-old father of three said he was forced to defend himself against the knife-wielding attacker.
Police have yet to arrest or charge the stainless steel worker, who killed Ralph Gordon last Thursday.
“I am not a murderer, I feel sad about what happened,” said the Kraaifontein man, who asked not be identified.
Gordon, 25, died from several stab wounds to his body.
The man, who works in the Boland , said he was waiting for his work transport when he was attacked by Gordon on the Brighton off-ramp on the N1 highway at about 7pm.
“I was sitting there, eating a piece of cake, when I heard a person breathing next to me,” he explained.
“I looked up and there was this guy next to me asking what the time was. I told him I don’t have the time, but I could see that he was up to something.”
The man said he moved to the other side of the road to stand with another man also waiting for transport. “My wife sent me a Please Call Me, and I called to tell her not to call me, because there are people trying to rob the people on the ramp.
“As I put my phone away, I looked up and saw Gordon standing on the top of the bridge approaching me.
“When he was two metres away, I opened my pocket knife, waiting for him to come closer.
“He asked me, where are you going, and where do you come from? I told him ‘it’s not for you to ask me questions, man’.”
He said moments later, Gordon attacked him with a knife. “I raised my arm trying to protect my neck and he stabbed me.”
He said they both stabbed each other in the neck and chest before Gordon backed off.
“He walked away but collapsed there on the off-ramp,” the man said.
Police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk confirmed the incident.
Meanwhile, Gordon’s family told Daily Voice they’ve forgiven his “killer”.
The man said he “had no choice” but to defend himself. “I am not a murderer. It was going to be one of us. I feel sad for his six-year-old child that will grow up without a dad.”