BURNING RAGE - Heideveld man vas after ‘trying to burn girlfriend alive’
The enter house was destroyed expect the bathroom at the back.
Image: Kim Swartz
A BONTEHEUWEL mother says she and her friends were nearly burned alive at the weekend after her jealous boyfriend doused them with petrol.
When one guy then lit an entjie, all hell broke loose, leaving the flat completely burned down, a neighbouring unit partly burned and three mense needing medical attention at a local hospital.
The girlfriend, who asked not to be named, told the Daily Voice that she had been dating the 28-year-old boyfriend, who was arrested on Sunday night, since April and that she had moved into his family home in Betsy Court, Heideveld, a few months ago along with his siblings, two family friends and her two small children.
She says there were red flags al vroeg in their verhouding, but she didn’t expect things to escalate to this level.
A week before the 21 November fire, she was cleaning their room when she discovered a small bottle in a drawer. At first she thought it was drugs, but quickly realised it was petrol.
She explained: “As I’m cleaning, he’s lying there and suddenly said ‘daai is vir jou, ek gaan jou uitbrand.’
“He always talked nonsense so I didn’t take him seriously.”
She says she tried to throw the bottle away because there were children in the house, but he grabbed it back. One of their friends eventually tossed it out, but she later learned he retrieved it without their knowledge.
A week later, the couple and some friends were hanging out at a bra’s plek.
The girlfriend says she felt uneasy the whole night and she couldn’t get drunk. But the berk and his friends were doing coke [cocaine] the whole night.
The bathroom and spare room floors were still wet from the water used to put the fire out.
Image: Kim Swartz
It’s then when he allegedly called her and another friend and started an argument by making accusations.
He suddenly started an argument, accusing her and another friend of having an affair. He then claimed she said she wanted to sleep with their friend. She denied it and said even the friend told him he was talking nonsense.
When they returned to the flat, she stepped away to check on her children. As she got up to go to the toilet, she walked straight into chaos.
She explained: “As I came out of the room, it was net petrol waar jy kyk, he’s just throwing it over all of us.”
One of the guys who were chilling in the house lit an entjie.
She added: “Ek het die meeste op my and as I’m turning, the one guy is aan die brand already. When I saw that it was a moerse shock for me already and I ran and shouted, ‘my children!’
“I took my sweater and jeans off because they were full of petrol and if I’m burning, how am I going to save my children?”
They managed to get out of the flat by jumping out of the bedroom window
According to neighbours, her berk locked the front door, threw away the key and left the scene.
City of Cape Town Fire and Rescue spokesperson Jermaine Carelse said the fire was reported at 2.05am on 22 November.
Crews from Ottery and Gugulethu extinguished it by 2.50am.
Carelse said: “Flat 21 was destroyed and the neighbouring unit partially damaged. Three men were taken to hospital.”
Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg confirmed that a 28-year-old man was arrested for arson and will appear in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court once charged.
The neighbour's front door and their bathroom was also set alight.
Image: Kim Swartz