Durban - Waterfall father of two, Jacques Oosthuizen, 35, suffered a massive heart attack and died, three days after he was stabbed and shot during a robbery at his Braeside Road home.
His 15-year-old daughter, Claudia, said this morning that the family were shattered.
“The hospital called us at about 10pm last night to tell us that my dad had passed on. It was a huge shock to us all.”
She said her mother, Samantha, and brother, Storm, 10, were not coping well after hearing the news.
The family, who have since fled their home and have been living with a relative, said they had no plans to return.
“We are living in fear. None of us can sleep at night. I still have visions of my father lying in a pool of blood. I cannot imagine living in that house again.”
Recalling the events of that night, Claudia said she was asleep when a robber walked into her room and shook her awake.
“He told me to go to my mother’s room. By that time they had also rounded up my brother. When we got to the bedroom, our father was lying on the floor in a pool of blood. He had been shot.”
She said that while her family welcomed the arrest of two of the suspects, there was still one on the run.
“Until he is behind bars, we will not rest. It gives us some relief that police acted so fast and arrested two of them.”
Oosthuizen’s family kept a vigil at his bedside at Hillcrest Hospital.
Claudia said her father never woke up from the day he was shot - he remained in a coma.
Oosthuizen was shot at his home after a gang of at least three men attacked on Thursday around 8pm.
Claudia said her father suffered severe internal damage to his lungs, spleen, stomach, liver, kidney and pancreas.
Police arrested the suspects less than 24 hours after the attack, in New Germany, near Pinetown.
The third suspect is still at large.
The suspects are facing house robbery and murder charges.
KZN police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Mmamonnye Ngobeni,
reacted with shock when informed of Oosthuizen’s death by the Daily News.
“That is sad… very, very sad. But we will bring the third suspect to book. The family can be assured of that.”
Daily News