Kimberley – An innocent bystander, who was caught in the middle of a fight in Colville, was allegedly stabbed to death by a group of people who chased after him following an argument between the group and one of his friends.
Charles Koopman said his nephew, Isaac Nero, 27, was murdered when he was stabbed in the back and hit over the head.
“There was a lot of blood on his head and it appears as if he was stabbed with a pair of sheep shears. His body was found outside a house in Absolom Street. He must have run into a friend’s house to escape his attackers.”
He stated that the incident took place on Sunday morning at about 3am.
“He went out with his friends on Saturday night and never returned home. We buried him the next day.”
Alfred Norman shows where the body of Isaac Nero laid after he was stabbed to death in Absolom Street in Colville. Picture: Soraya Crowie
A tenant who is renting at the back of the house in Absolom Street, where Nero was killed, said that he and his family were asleep when they heard a racket outside.
“We were too scared to intervene and the entire incident happened so quickly. Nero tried to get into the house but his pursuers pulled him away from the door and stabbed him,” Alfred Norman said.
Jason Riet, who was with Nero at the time of the incident, said that he was not supposed to be killed.
“On our way home we bumped into my 18-year-old sister. She was with a group of friends and I told her to go home because it was late. One of the young men who was in the group, picked a fight with me and we exchanged a few blows, after which the group ran off and called for backup."
“In Delta Street a large group of people started chasing us. Nero ran into a friend’s house in Absolom Street while my sister and I ran home.”
According to Riet he was being pursued by a man carrying a bottle.
He said that he later went to look for Nero and found him lying on the ground.
“I did not know that he was killed and only found out the following morning. He had nothing to do with the fight.”
Police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Dimaktso Mooi, said a 26-year-old man was arrested on Monday morning following the incident in Colville.
She said that on April 29 police officers found a man with a stab wound and he was declared dead on the scene by paramedics.
“The circumstances surrounding the murder is not yet known.”
Mooi said the suspect was expected to appear in court soon on a charge murder.
“The police investigation continues.”