Siyanda Khumalo knows he is lucky to be alive.
Last week he could easily have become the fourth victim of an axe murderer who, it has been speculated, was out for revenge after his daughter was raped and infected with HIV.
A former Blue Bulls rugby player has been arrested in connection with three axe murders in Durban.
The murder suspect reportedly played in both the Vodacom Cup and Currie Cup tournaments.
Police found an axe and bloodstained clothes at the man’s Yellowwood Park home.
The Sunday Tribune reported that the man had gone on a killing spree in Yellowwood Park, Lamontville and Umbilo. In each case, the victim had been killed with an axe.
Khumalo, 19, a grade 11 pupil at Shumayela High School in Umlazi, was on his way home from a friend’s house at about 9pm on Monday last week when a man carrying an axe attacked him.
The young man said that a grey car had passed him and parked at the corner. “I heard someone walking behind me and when I turned he slowed down.”
Khumalo said the man told him to wait and, as he walked faster, threw an axe at his back.
“I tried to duck the axe, but I was hit on the back. When he tried to grab me, I ducked and ran as fast as I could.”
“I am so relieved that I can talk about this. If he got me, he would have killed me,” Khumalo said.
His neighbour, Nokuthula Hlongwane, who heard his screams, said she saw a man walking fast to his car as the young man ran towards her.
“I heard him (Khumalo) screaming and, when I got out of my house, he was running frantically and looked very scared.”
A Lamontville man who survived a similar attack earlier described being attacked by a man in a grey car.
The man pounced on him with an axe, aiming for his torso. However, he managed to evade the man and ran off.
Police said the suspect would appear in court soon. - The Mercury