A hero dad has saved the life of his son from knife-wielding robbers by allegedly killing one of the attackers.
The 44-year-old dad, who has a black belt in karate, put his fighting skills to use when the two skelms tried to take his 18-year-old son’s cellphone.
The father and son both sustained stab wounds.
On Thursday, the two had gone to Liberty Promenade Mall to buy takkies and took a taxi home to Colorado Park, Mitchells Plain.
They had just gotten out of the taxi on the corner of Casino and Bond streets when they were attacked.
The takkies were meant for the boy’s trip to the United Kingdom this week, where he was to participate in soccer trials for Manchester City and other clubs.
The boy’s mother asked for their identities to be protected for safety reasons.
Robbers stabbed boy's dad
“Two guys walked past him and then turned around,” she says.
“My son had his cellphone in his hand and his dad had a shopping bag with the Nike takkies. They grabbed my son’s cellphone, then the two guys attacked him with a knife, wounding him on the forehead and wrist.”
The mother says her husband realised what was happening and immediately sprang into action, using his martial arts skills.
“He knew he had to save his son. He saw that they had two knives. The robbers fought him and unfortunately they stabbed him in the arm and ribs.”
AIM: The diewe were on a spree
She says her husband just wanted to protect their son and managed to get hold of one of the knives and stabbed one of the robbers, aged 25.
“The cellphone fell to the ground and a neighbour came to assist,” says the mom.
“The one robber got hold of the shopping bag with the takkies. My husband stabbed the one suspect (after getting hold of the knife). He was still alive and passed away later.”
She says her husband and son are both traumatised.
“My husband isn’t dealing well with it because he said that man is still a mother’s child. Now my son cannot go to the soccer trials either because he was wounded.”
ON SCENE: André Rushin
Retired cop André Rushin, who works as a response officer for City Wide Secure Public Safety, was also at the scene and said the alleged robbers were on a spree.
“They robbed another woman of her cellphone before that and this was the third incident of the day,” he says.
Police spokesperson, Sgt. Noloyiso Rwexana, says a case of murder has been opened for investigation: “Circumstances surrounding this incident are under investigation with no arrests so far.”