Husband killed while protecting wife

Pineridge engineer, Hennie Warricker, was shot dead during a hijacking while he and his wife, Taryn, were walked their dogs in a Pinetown park this week.

Pineridge engineer, Hennie Warricker, was shot dead during a hijacking while he and his wife, Taryn, were walked their dogs in a Pinetown park this week.

Published Nov 27, 2015

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Durban - A Pineridge woman was left shattered after her husband of 17 years died while trying to protect her during a hijacking this week.

The incident - which has rocked the Pineridge community - took place early on Tuesday evening and by Thursday afternoon Taryn Warricker was still too traumatised to speak publicly.

Her brother-in-law, Christo Meintjes, said the past 24 hours had been a nightmare.

“It’s been terrible, just absolutely terrible,” he said.

Meintjes retold Taryn’s story as he had heard it.

She and her 39-year-old husband, Hennie, took their two Yorkshire terriers for a walk in a park in Seaforth Road, late in the afternoon. The park was close to their home but they drove there.

“It’s a nice little park, the grass is kept short and there’s an area where your kids can play,” Meintjes, a resident of the area himself, said.

Locals went there often, he added. While in the park, two men started approaching them from the top border.

Taryn knew something was wrong and the pair started making their way back to the car but before they could reach it, the men were on them, demanding their cash and car keys, which they handed over.

“Then as they turned around, Hennie grabbed one of the men,” Meintjes said.

A tussle ensued, during which Hennie was wrestled to the ground and shot in the leg.

By this time, Taryn was hysterical, her brother-in-law said.

“Hennie was trying to crawl to her, when he was shot again, in the chest this time.”

The men fled, leaving Taryn and her husband’s bloodied body in the park.

Quick as they were to respond, by the time the authorities arrived at the scene, Hennie was dead.

The family was on Thursday still in the process of making funeral arrangements.

Meintjes said Pinetown was rife with crime and that residents were living in fear and he called for action to be taken.

And the chairman of the Pineridge neighbourhood watch, Dylan Jenkins, who was at the scene, said the community woke up angry on Thursday.

“This was a horrific thing that happened but we have an incredible group of people on our neighbourhood watch - we’ve seen an 80% decrease in crime - and we remain undeterred,” Jenkins said.

Police spokesman, Major Thulani Zwane, confirmed a case of murder and hijacking was opened.

No arrests had been made on Thursday.

Daily News

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