Cape Town – A man who went out to look for his brother out of concern for his safety was knifed to death.
Neville Harris, 33, greeted his killers, who were riding mountain bikes, before he was stabbed more than six times.
Neville moved from Barrydale to Grassy Park last year after his father, William Harris, passed away.
His aunt Veronica Petersen, 62, says tragedy struck on Saturday just after 10:30pm in Second Avenue when a worried Neville went looking for his brother Howard Marinus, 42.
Howard was getting food at a local fast food outlet in Victoria Road.
He says Neville came looking for him earlier that night, “but I told him I am not ready to come home yet,” Howard says.
“Just before 10pm, he got out of his bed again and came to fetch me while I was at the shop."
“The two men were standing against the church wall and they were eating."
“Their bikes were next to them. Neville greeted them both and they greeted him.”
Howard says as they walked home, the two “strangers” started following them on their bikes and talking to them.
“Hulle het gevra saam met wie stry ek. I said I am not arguing with him, he wants me to come home and that he is my brother,” he explains. (“They asked who am I arguing with. I said I am not arguing with him, he wants me to come home and that he is my brother,”)
“Then the one came after me and was rukking me. The other went after Neville.” (“Then the one came after me and was shaking me. The other went after Neville.”)
Howard, who has a limp after he was attacked with a baseball bat 12 years ago, says he doesn’t know how he managed to climb over a fence to escape the suspects.
“I have plates and pins in my legs,” he says.
“I jumped over the wall and the last thing I heard Neville say was ‘Eina, los my af’." (“I jumped over the wall and the last thing I heard Neville say was ‘Ouch!, leave me alone’.")
“I saw them beating him but I didn’t realise they were stabbing him.”
Veronica says they are saddened by Neville’s death.
“He didn’t even have a wallet or cellphone on him that they could steal,” she says.
“They stabbed him six times in his neck and there were wounds in his back.
“He was the type of person who greeted everyone and he was still adjusting to life in Cape Town,” she says.
Veronica says the suspected killers allegedly also robbed two teenagers of their cellphones earlier that night.
Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana confirms the incident, but says no arrests have been made yet.