A Bokmakierie father says it’s his fault his six-year-old daughter was shot outside their home on Saturday.
John Julies, 42, made the admission on Tuesday as police minister Bheki Cele paid a visit to the family, and also went to see little Brionay Daniels at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, where she is in a stable condition.
John tells the Daily Voice he sent his daughter to buy spices at the shop four doors down from their 8th Avenue home.
The family live in a Wendy house on the property.
“I cannot say how sorry I am and blame myself for sending her. We just heard the gunshots and ran outside and she was on the ground,” says the dad.
“She came running and said someone threw her with a stone, but we saw blood. The bullet entered her left hamstring and came out on the inside of her upper thigh.
“They could have killed my child and it would have been my fault,” the broken father said.
Mom Gail Julies, 41, says they fear for their lives now.
VISITING: Bheki Cele met with mother Gail Julies
“We are too afraid to go outside. We have a 10-year-old son and we won’t let him out of our sight. We cannot live like this,” the mom says.
Brionay was caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting on three men on Sunday.
One of the victims, dad of four Mornay Leffule, 35, died on the scene, while two others were injured.
Leffule lived next to Brionay.
He was one of the main witnesses in a shooting in which 11-year-old Rimeez Caetano was shot and killed, also in front of his home in the same street last year.
Two men were charged with his murder.
Mornay’s mother Christina, 60, says her son was “taken out”.
“He went to court for Rimeez’s trial in November and when he came home, he was threatened. They told him if he continues to go to court and testify, he will die,” she says.
“They took him from his four children because he did the right thing.”
FEAR: Girl’s parents Gail and John Julies
Cele promised the family, police would not rest until the perpetrators are caught.
Over the last few months, Cele has visited various Cape Flats communities torn by violence, including Kraaifontein and Hanover Park.
“We have been crisscrossing all over. There have been improvements in some of the communities. Yes, there will be flare-ups (of violence) but only here and there.
“Am I satisfied? My satisfaction would be only if we did not have to come back, especially for the death of children,” he told journalists.
Cele said a man had been taken in for questioning in connection with Brionay’s shooting but was released.
“We have identified the man we want and have confiscated his car (the blue Toyota Camry used in the shooting) and we know who we want now in terms of this case,” he added.