Durban: Ideleen Chetty will stop at nothing to protect her tuckshop. It is her only source of income and the profits from the business have helped her put her children through school and university.
So on Monday afternoon, when a knife-wielding robber entered her tuckshop, which is on the same property as her home in Tongaat, she fought him off by punching him several times in the chest.
Chetty, of Edmundsbury Street, said on the day of the incident business was quiet.
She was sitting outside the tuckshop with her friend and her friend’s two children, aged 14 and 3.
Chetty said a man approached and told her he was hungry.
"I asked him if he wanted to buy anything and he said yes. I told him I had biscuits, chips and cooldrink and I gave him the prices. He asked for the biscuits and walked towards the outside serving counter."
Chetty got up and went into the tuckshop. She said she placed the latch over the gate at the entrance to the tuckshop and selected different biscuits to show to the man.
"The next moment, I heard my friend scream. She wanted to know why the gate was opened. I thought she was scolding her baby for doing this but when I turned, the man was in the tuckshop. My friend continued to shout for help."
Chetty said the man pulled out a knife from his pocket, which he flicked in front of her face. She said she could not activate the panic button because he had blocked her path.
"My only form of defence was the biscuits and my fists. I began to scream hysterically and I took the biscuits and threw them at him. When the biscuits hit him, he turned his face and lowered the hand with the knife.
"I knew this was my chance to escape. I made a fist and I used all my strength to continuously punch him in the chest. I cannot remember how many times I hit him."
She said the man fled.
Chetty activated the panic button and members of the private security company, Reaction Unit South Africa, were dispatched. They, however, could not find the suspect.
The single parent said the incident happened on the seventh anniversary of her opening the tuckshop.
"Before opening the business, life was difficult financially. I could not get a job and I had two children and my elderly parents to care for. I then decided to open a tuckshop and since then our lives have improved.
"The profits have helped me to put food on the table and it has helped me to pay my bills. I was able to pay for my oldest daughter's driving licence. She is an administrator. I was also able to put my youngest daughter through school, pay her school fees, tuition, and her driving licence and college fees."
Her younger daughter recently completed a degree in IT software engineering.
"I was not going to let one man rob me of everything I worked so hard to build. The tuckshop is my livelihood. If those profits were stolen, how would I recover from that loss?
"Crime is out of control in the area. That was why I joined the SAPS Community in Blue Group. It is a programme that teaches residents self defence. My first lesson is on my birthday on Wednesday (today)."
Chetty said whenever anyone needed help, they turned to her.
"This is also the reason I stood up for myself."
Lieutenant Colonel Nqobile Gwala, a provincial police spokesperson, said a case of robbery is being investigated by the Tongaat SAPS.
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