Johannesburg - “Becky took a bullet that was meant for me. If it had not been for her, I would have been tied up and probably raped.”
As she uttered those words, 27-year-old Kirstie Adams looked at her four-year-old dog, an Afrikaner breed, and stroked it. Above the dog’s nose is a gaping gunshot wound inflicted when armed men kicked open Adams’s bedroom door, shot at her, missed her and shot Becky, who was barking frantically and about to attack.
The bullet hit the dog in the nose. It was rushed to the vet and given painkillers and antibiotics. Adams is the latest victim in a series of attacks in Muldersdrift, allegedly perpetrated by the same gang. Two weeks ago, armed men shot and killed Jacques Botha. Three other people were also attacked on the same night.
On Friday at around 11.30pm, the men kicked open Adams’s bedroom door and immediately fired a shot. It missed her by a few millimetres, deafening her in her left ear.
They had spent 30 minutes in her 19-year-old housemate’s bedroom, tying him up and taking his belongings. He has since moved.
The men had bent the fence to get access into the yard. From there they broke the lock on the security gate and dug a hole through the wooden door, removing the lock.
The attack came despite the police claiming to have increased visibility in the area.
The Star