Cyclist shot with air rifle!

2009-06-23 08:43

Jackie Pienaar-Brink and Jan Gerber

Stellenbosch – Three men appeared in the Stellenbosch Magistrate’s Court on Monday in connection with an incident in which a cyclist was shot with an air rifle.

The shooting took place shortly after 08:00 on Saturday morning, as Francois Raath, 51, from Bellville, was cycling along Bottelary Road with a group of nine cyclists. He sustained a flesh wound to his right side.

Stellenbosch police spokesperson Aubrey Marais said Randal Vosloo, 20, and Ivan Jones, 38, were arrested that day while Laurentios van Niekerk, 23, was arrested on Sunday. All three men are from Kraaifontein.

The suspects had reportedly been visiting friends on the farm Bellevue, about 200m from where the shooting took place.

Charges

The men are facing charges of assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. They were released on bail of R300 each on Monday. The case has been postponed until July 1.

Raath is part of a group of cyclists who ride on Bottelary Road to Stellenbosch every Saturday, where they have coffee before returning home.

On Saturday morning, Raath was cycling alongside another cyclist – on the side of the road, but inside the yellow line – when a Mazda 323 narrowly scraped past them. The passenger door was merely an arm’s length away from Raath when he heard the shot.

The next thing he knew, there was a burning pain in his side.

“I’ve been shot! I’ve been shot!” he screamed.

When he lifted up his clothes, he could see blood around a wound in his side. He couldn’t feel a bullet, but there was a hole straight through his three layers of clothing.

In the midst of the confusion, Raath looked up and noticed the Mazda turning into Bellevue Road.

The group of cyclists rode to the farm gate where they waited for the police to arrive. Stellenbosch police were on the scene within 15 minutes, where they took the cyclists’ statements, said Raath.

Knocked off bicycles

Raath is one of two cyclists in the group who have been knocked off their bicycles by cars on the same road in the past.

“All of us are stunned and concerned. It almost makes you too scared to go for a ride,” he said.

“This is not the spirit of the sport. We ride inside the yellow line. We wear high-visibility clothing. We have lights on the front and back of our bicycles. What more can we do?”