Durban - The wife of a Pietermaritzburg businessman has spoken about how hijackers fired at her before killing her husband outside their home.
Pakistani Imdad Bhatti, who has lived in the city for more than 10 years, was shot outside his Newholme’s Way home on Thursday night.
He died in hospital on Friday morning.
According to Bhatti’s distraught widow, Nida, her husband had returned home from mosque with their 6-year-old son.
As they pulled into the driveway, three armed men accosted him, dragging him and his son from his car.
They shot Bhatti twice and then sped off in the businessman’s white BMW 3 series.
The car was found abandoned late on Thursday night less than 5km from Bhatti’s home. “I was walking towards the gate to open it for my husband when the gunmen appeared.
“He shouted at me to duck because they started shooting in my direction,” a tearful Nida said, adding that she still could not believe that all the shots missed her.
Neighbours told the Daily News at the weekend that they were shocked when they heard the gunshots and looked out of their windows to see Bhatti lying in his driveway.
“Crime has become a way of life, but it is unforgivable to shoot a man in front of his children. For small kids to watch their father die like that is horrible,” said neighbour Bob Naidoo.
Another neighbour, Anusha Pillay, whose husband rushed Bhatti to hospital, said that it broke her heart to watch Bhatti’s children holding his bloodstained body and begging him not to die.
“That scene will remain with me for the rest of my life. It was so traumatic; we could not sleep all night,” she said.
“We are also afraid… this could have happened to any one of us coming to our homes.”
Bhatti was the owner of Central Hardware as well as the developer of a mall at Bhamshela in Appelsbosch.
Police spokesman, Captain Thulani Zwane, said a case of murder and hijacking was being investigated.
No arrests have been made.
Daily News