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- A Stuijt
- Retired South African medical journalist, ex-Sunday Times of Johannesburg.
Attacker phoned Vereeniging eye-gouge victim
08:42 | 
Posted by
A Stuijt |
“The man, full of hatred, started scratching in my eyes with his long, thick, white ugly nails.” – Dr Marius Pretorius
2009-12-16 Vereeniging - A member of a gang of robbers who tried to gouge out the eyes of a world renowned eye specialist, now wants to snitch on his buddies because he didn't get his share of the loot, reports Sonja van Buul in Beeld newspaper. Three armed black men had viciously attacked Dr Marius Pretorius, 70, and his wife, Lien, 68, in their Vereeniging flat in the town centre and robbed them of money from a walk-in safe, a watch and a wallet.
Dr Pretorius's eyes were severely damaged during the attack. At this stage it's unclear whether his sight will recover fully, but he is expected to be discharged from hospital on Thursday. On Tuesday afternoon he was still in the Emfuleni Medi Clinic in Vanderbijlpark when the gang member phoned his consulting rooms.
"Can you believe it? This man, who had apparently driven the getaway car, now wants to negotiate with the police since he's been cheated by the other robbers," said Hannelie Warren, the couple's daughter, on Tuesday.
Shortly after the man's call, the Vereeniging police and the Pretoriuses's son, Dr Rinus Pretorius - an anaesthesiologist from York in England, who'd earlier flown to South Africa to support his parents - stood by the phone, waiting in anticipation for the man to phone back.
“The man, full of hatred, started scratching in my eyes with his long, thick, white ugly nails…’
Pretorius was overpowered with a firearm and threatened with death at the front door of their home on December 9. One of the robbers whispered to him that he was going to scratch out his eyes.
"Then the man, full of hatred, brutally started scratching in my eyes with his long, thick, white ugly nails," he said on Tuesday.
"And this while the thug was sitting on my back, nonchalantly smoking a cigarette."
Pretorius feels it's mere coincidence that the man wanted to damage his eyes specifically. "I think he just didn't want me to recognise him afterward."
His wife was in their bedroom, combing her hair, when she was overpowered by the other robbers. "They choked her badly, trampled on her hip and then got the key to our safe. She's severely traumatised and is receiving counselling," said Pretorius. The robbers apparently fled when a telephone started ringing and they heard voices on the floor below the flat. The couple sought help while blood streamed from the eye specialist's eyes.
According to Pretorius, the ripped-off muscle in his right eye is "hanging by a thread" and will presumably only be able to be reattached during an operation in about four weeks' time, after the tissue has recovered and the bleeding has subsided. "I have inner-eye infection in my left eye and my vision is extremely poor, but I hope and pray that I'll recover," he said.
- Pretorius is a founding member and served for 21 years as president of the International Intraocular Society. He stepped down as president in 2003, but is still an active committee member http://www.news24.com/Content/SouthAfrica/News/1059/c882fb3790064e8384ee8edc0b51933d/16-12-2009-08-31/Brutal_attacker_phones_victim
Dr Pretorius had just repaired a crime-victim’s eyes when a robber tried to gouge them out with a pool-cue…
The Pretoria News reported earlier that only weeks before the attack, he had treated someone whose eyes had been damaged in a house robbery. His daughter said: “A robber had apparently tried to gouge the patient's eye with a pool cue. He had operated (on the patient) and was so chuffed because he was able to get to all the muscles," explained Warren.
Pretorius is in the Emfuleni Medi-Clinic and was operated on last week, when his eyelids were repaired. But doctors will only know next month if his sight will be restored. An MRI scan was preformed on Pretorius on Saturday and Warren said that one of the detached muscles could be seen. This has given the family hope that his eyes might be saved.
'Severely traumatised'
Warren told Beeld newspaper that her parents were severely traumatised and receiving counselling.
sources:
http://www.pretorianews.co.za/?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20091215043949443C450654
Labels: eye-surgeon, eyes gouged by attackers Vereeniging, Pretorius Marius
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