Barely two weeks after Jansie and Gerrie (58) van der Merwe celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary, Jansie, her daughter and paramedics tried in vain for two hours to save Gerrie’s life after he was severely beaten with a brick.
Jansie told Maroela Media on Thursday, they have been living in the house in Primrose, Johannesburg since August 2014, after they moved from the West Rand.
The couple’s daughter, Lasia (26), is living in a separate apartment on the property. “Three men tried to break into Lasia’s car on Friday night, 26 June 2015. She and her friend, Vincent Andrews (25), tried to disperse them. They aimed at Vincent with a gun, but it did not go off and they fled,” said Jansie, and explained they were extra vigilant since Friday.
“I woke up Tuesday morning at 01:47 when our neighbor’s dogs started barking profusely. I looked through the TV room window in the front yard, but saw nothing,” Jansie said. Lasia was still awake and was playing UNO with Vincent and a colleague. She banged on the walls to warn her parents that there were people in the yard once again. “Gerrie got up and grabbed his cricket bat. He saw two men in the backyard standing by his motorcycle. I pleaded with him not to go, while I went to the room to fetch my phone to call for help.
When I finished talking to the police, I could hear a commotion outside.” The attackers were beating Gerrie with a brick on his face and head. They ran into Lasia, Vincent and the colleague when they tried to flee. Lasia and Vincent were also hit with bricks in their faces, but managed to overpower one of the attackers who was later arrested by the police. The other attacker managed to flee. “I went looking for my husband and found him on the ground bleeding. We worked with ER24 paramedics from 02:00 to 04:00 and tried in vain to resuscitate him,” said an emotional Jansie. Gerrie was declared dead at the scene. Lasia and Vincent also suffered head injuries, and have been discharged from hospital already.
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