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Cape Town – The Dick and Allsop Mica hardware store in Wellington, in the Western Cape, holds many happy memories for the Fourie family. But it has also become a source of pain.
Last month, store owner Johan Fourie was gunned down in front of his 5-year-old son after they went to deposit money at a bank a few hundred metres down the road.
The 38-year-old had opened the door of his bakkie and put his son inside when a man accosted him.
They wrestled. Two attackers apparently got out of a car and shots were fired.
Fourie died after being shot in the side of the head. A bystander was hit in the leg.
The robbers made off without taking anything. No one had yet been arrested.
His retired father Kobus Fourie was a victim of crime in two similar situations.
He told News24 on Thursday that the first time was in 2014, when he was attacked outside the store. They took R500.
In 2015, Kobus was at the same bank his son had visited.
“When I got out of the bakkie, a guy ran at me. We fought a bit and another guy came with a pistol.”
They tried to shoot him but he got hold of the pistol and it fell onto the road.
“Nobody came along and kicked it away. The one guy knocked me on the head. I fell down and they took R26 000.”
Kobus said there was a time in Wellington when residents expected to have one or two attacks every week.
He said Johan’s wife and son were struggling but they were all trying to move forward as a family.
Sadly, there seemed to be no video footage of the incident that might help identify the attackers, said Kobus.
Seeing the attackers being arrested would at least make them feel his death was not in vain.
Western Cape police spokesperson, Captain FC van Wyk, said that their investigation continued.
“All possible leads/information are being followed up.”
Kobus was back at the store, but not for long.
“I have sold it now. This is where Johan and I worked together for 16 years.”
