Pretoria - A 25-year-old Garsfontein man will spend the next seven days in prison after he allegedly killed a homeless teenager earlier this week in a fit of anger when his girlfriend’s iPad was stolen in a smash-and-grab incident.
Johannes Coetzee was charged with murder and attempted murder after he went on a rampage, firing several shots in an open veld next to Garsfontein Road, near Menlyn, on Tuesday morning.
He made a brief appearance in the Pretoria Correctional Services Court on Thursday, where his case was postponed for further investigation and a formal bail application.
Earlier this week, Pretoria News reported that Coetzee had received a call from his girlfriend on Tuesday, moments after her iPad, phone and handbag had been snatched off the passenger seat of her car in a smash-and-grab incident on Garsfontein Road.
Coetzee, who was in the area, followed the signal of her iPad and ran into the piece of veld where he started firing shots in the direction of some homeless men.
A witness at the scene, Thomas Chauke told Pretoria News how Coetzee shouted at the squatters not to run away. As he was shouting, he was firing shots.
Among the homeless in the veld was a teenager who had been sleeping under a bridge near a filling station situated next to the piece of veld. He had been woken by the commotion.
Chauke said he estimated him to be about 18 or 19 years old.
It is alleged that Coetzee turned in the young man’s direction and fired one shot which hit him in the head.
He was declared dead at the scene by paramedics.
Pretoria News