Durban - A gang of robbers, pretending to want directions, shot a Morningside father and terrorised his family.
Chris Denn, 58, was shot in the stomach.
His father-in-law, Ian Thomas, said not even electrical fencing and high gates at his Ross Gardens Road property deterred the robbers.
They gained entry into the house by removing the brackets of his driveway gate and forcing it open.
Thomas said he was on the phone with his daughter in London when the intercom bell rang.
A man with a reflector jacket was at the gate. His wife, Maureen, spoke to the man through the intercom.
He asked for directions to Kensington before walking away.
Thomas, who could see the front gate, said he then saw a man step onto the porch.
At first he thought it was his gardener. But then he saw a man with a balaclava armed with a crowbar.
“I immediately warned my wife and pressed the panic alarm,” he said.
Within minutes, two men walked into the bedroom and placed a gun on to his wife’s forehead, Thomas said.
A third man followed Thomas.
His daughter, Carol, and her husband, Chris Denn, who live in the unit above their house, were walking down the back steps to their car when they heard screams and the alarm go off.
“The alarm caused the robbers to panic and run out the front door”. Denn was walking down the driveway when one of the fleeing robbers shot him, said Thomas, adding that a doctor across the road heard the gunshots and came to see what had happened.
“He assisted Chris before the paramedics arrived.”
The bullet was removed and Denn is reported to be recovering well.
Before fleeing the robbers took Maureen Thomas’s gold bracelets, earrings and wedding ring.
Her husband said: “I count myself lucky that I saw them. The jewellery can be replaced, but not our lives.”
Daily News