Khayelitsha - A good Samaritan who has devoted his life to placing a pair of school shoes on the feet of underprivileged children has survived a vicious armed robbery at his home in which he was stabbed in front of his family.
Gerald Nomlala, 48, has been hailed his family’s own superman after he fought off his attacker who stabbed him four times.
Gerald is the founder of Kasi Angels Foundation, which has worked hand in hand with Bata SA to hand over hundreds of school shoes to children around the country.
Fled
The robber fled with two laptops, two hard drives and 20 pairs of school shoes.
Gerald lives in Khayelitsha with his 36-year-old girlfriend and three children, aged six, 11 and 16.
The dad woke to find a robber standing over him in his bedroom just after 2am on Wednesday.
“I just felt this stab or pinching feeling in my chest,” he says.
Gerald realised that he had been stabbed in the chest and listened to his attacker, who had an accomplice with a gun, demand the keys to the safe, as well as money and a firearm.
He says the robber then dragged the whole family to the bedroom where he lay bleeding.
“He had the knife in his hand and he kept asking where the safe was and when I said I don’t have a safe, he continued to stab me,” says Gerald.
Although he had been stabbed in the head, chest, leg and shoulder and realised he needed to fight back.
“I noticed that the knife was already bent and his friend was not in the bedroom,” he explains.
“I dived forward to overpower him, but I was so weak and we were in a struggle.”
Gerald says during the battle to save his life and that of his family’s, his six-year-old son’s words gave him the courage to prevail.
“The attacker shouted for his friend to come and shoot me, but I decided I am going to use this one’s body as a human shield should he decide to open fire,” he adds.
“My 16-year-old son was shouting for help to the neighbours through the window.
“My six-year-old son was screaming: ‘Daddy, don’t give up; you’re Superman’.”
Gerald says he managed to put a stranglehold on the robber using his last strength, before help arrived: “When the neighbours arrived, the other one ran away and they beat up the one. The next thing I remember was waking up in hospital.”
The attacker is recovering under guard in hospital.