Durban - A Clare Estate father is awaiting a court’s decision on whether he should be charged with murder after he shot dead a robber in a house robbery.
The Maharaj family was packing up after enjoying a Father’s Day braai on their front lawn when four men allegedly walked up the driveway and held them up at gunpoint. While the robbers were leaving shots rang out. One of the robbers was found dead on the driveway.
Home owner, Umesh Maharaj, who had been in the toilet during the ordeal, said six of his relatives, his son ,daughter and wife were robbed of their belongings.
Maharaj said his son-in-law and another relative had carried a 94-year-old aunt into their Renault Duster parked by the front door. Two men walked up to them and cocked their guns.
The men pistol whipped, kicked and robbed them. Two other robbers ran into the house and held up Maharaj’s daughter, wife, son and a relative. They made them go down on their knees. They ripped the jewellery off their necks and took wallets, handbags and phones.
“One moment we were laughing and singing and the next thing we were begging for our lives and family members were bleeding from wounds. My daughter-in-law and two grandchildren were changing in the room. I was in my en-suite. The door in the passage was closed. I could hear screams of don’t kill us’ and leave me!’, come from the lounge,” Maharaj said.
He opened the door slightly and saw a man standing over his wife with a gun to her head. He locked the door and grabbed his firearm from the safe. He could hear more screams and then shots. From a bedroom window overlooking the front door, driveway and balcony, Maharaj fired shots at the robbers.
“They were interrogating my family. They wanted the Renault car keys. What if they took the car with the old woman? What if they shot my relatives? I heard the gun shots and thought that my relatives had been shot. My family and I were in danger. When we ran out we found one of the men lying in the driveway. The community who had heard the screams for help then beat up the robber. He died on the spot with my television next to him and my remote controls in his hand,” Maharaj said.
The men fled in a silver Hyundai i20 that had been parked on the roadside. Now Maharaj is living in fear that the men may return. His gun was confiscated by the police as well as the clothing he was wearing at the scene. Police took the television for fingerprinting to check if it was indeed stolen. The police also wanted to check whether it was the gunshot wound or the assault that had caused the robber’s death.
Sydenham police are investigating a case of house robbery.
Daily News