Hartbeespoort, South Africa – Michael O’Reilly (48), John Eckhardt (74), Leon Snyman (48) and André du Preez (76) were all murdered between December 24, 2014 and January 5, 2015 by unknown armed assailants.
Michael O’Reilly
O’Reilly was shot four times in the early hours on December 24, 2014 in his house in Elizabeth Street in Schoemansville. He was alone at home and woke up with a gunman standing next to his bed.
According to his wife Irene, who was in Johannesburg looking after her sick mother, Michael asked the man what he wanted and got up and chased him. “Michael told me the man turned around and repeatedly shot at him. Four bullets hit him. One of the bullets penetrated his liver and lung,” she said.
Michael was taken to the Brits Hospital where he lay for 14 hours before he was transported to the Rustenbug hospital where a five-hour long operation was performed. He died shortly after 08:00 on Christmas morning.
John Eckhardt
John Eckhardt (74) was overpowered on his smallholding in Rietfontein by presumably four or five men at 06:00 on December 31, 2014 when he went out to feed his dogs. He was cruelly assaulted and bludgeoned to death. The men overpowered him outside, hit him over the head and neck before they dragged him into the house to the safe. They broke open the safe and took Kruger rands and six firearms.
Leon Snyman
The same night Leon Snyman (48) was shot dead in his bed on a smallholding in Rietfontein. His wife Elize (50) was shot through the mouth. The robbers also shot at a family member who rushed into the bedroom, but luckily missed.
“The couple was already in bed and Elize was busy on her phone when the bedroom window, that was slightly open, was opened and an armed man demanded her handbag and cellphone, and asked who else was in the house. He shot Elize in the face and the bullet travelled through her mouth and lodged in her neck. When Leon wanted to get up, the man shot and killed him,” the family member told Kormorant.
“I ran to the bedroom and when the robber saw me, he fired but missed.”
Elize is in a serious condition in the George Mukhari Hospital in Ga-Rankuwa. The bullet is still lodged in her neck.
André du Preez
On Januarie 5, 2015, 76-year-old André du Preez was also bludgeoned to death in his house in Sven Street in Ifafi. His 70-year-old wife Elsabé was covered in a blanket and hit in the face with a spade.
“They were already in bed and according to my mother-in-law he got up to get a glass of water,” Anneke du Preez, André’s daughter-in-law told Kormorant.
He was surprised by the intruder in the lounge and hit over the head. The man went into the bedroom and told Elsabé to keep quiet and asked for money and jewellery.
“She told him there was no cash in the house and gave him her wedding ring,” Anneke said.
The man threw a blanket over Elsabé and hit her in the face with a spade. She fell unconscious and when she woke up, found her husband’s body. It seems the murderer and possibly one or two accomplices broke into a window in the lounge. They fled with a TV, two cellphones and a tablet.
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