A 16-year-old boy from Caledon saved the lives of his parents, shooting dead an armed intruder who attacked the family.
Teenager Liam Kleyn shot and killed the assailant, who had shot at the family and assaulted his father Canzius, biting off part of his right ear, on Tuesday evening.
The boy’s mother, Betsie Kleyn, said that
around sunset she had received a call from a man saying he was travelling through SA, seeking a room for the night for him and his girlfriend at their guest house, Goudinie’s. The guest house is on the R316, south of Caledon.
Kleyn asked for the man’s cellphone number, but he refused to give it to her.
“Instead he said that he would phone me back in 10 minutes. There was something very suspicious about the call, the way he talked was different from how someone who books accommodation would. He kept using adjectives, saying ‘how lovely’ and ‘beautiful’ the farm looked,” she said.
As it turned out, the man didn’t call back.
Kleyn’s husband, Canzius, and son, Liam, went out and Betsie took her revolver from her room to keep it nearby.
At 8.50pm, minutes after her family had returned, a man walked into their lounge, where they were watching television.
He fired at Betsie but missed, and she fired two shots at the assailant.
Her husband wrestled the man to the ground. Canzius Kleyn was shot in the wrist and had part of his right ear bitten off.
In the meantime Liam had fetched a gun from his parents’ bedroom and, as Canzius was subduing the man, Liam fired a shot at the attacker.
Canzius is recovering in hospital in Hermanus.
“It could just as easily have been us that died. We are so grateful that it wasn’t the other way round,” said Kleyn. “Liam is doing okay. He saw a psychologist, but he seems to be coping. Maybe the shock will set in later.”