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- A Stuijt
- Retired South African medical journalist, ex-Sunday Times of Johannesburg.
Dutch WWII resistance hero murdered in S.Africa
12:07 | 
Posted by
A Stuijt |
Also today: French tourist, 61. robbed by three armed men at ATM machine in Pritchard Street, Johannesburg… and a warning to all FIFA World Cup 2010 footbal tourists…
March 27 2009 – BENONI, South Africa. Journalist Joël Roerig reports in Dutch daily De Telegraaf that WWII Dutch veteran Pieter Bosch (83) was shot to death through his bedroom door during an armed robbery targeting two elderly residents of a Dutch-language pensioner-community in South Africa.
His wife Hannie, 72, ended in hospital with a broken arm after the three armed men had deliberately caused the frail old woman to fall. There’s no report that anything was even stolen.
Picture:
Hannie Bosch told Roerig from her hospital bed that she had seen 'three black men' during the attack.
However the police believe there may have been more.
Oranjehof
"I woke up my husband because I heard noises around the house,' she said. "They came and attacked us in the bedroom and Pieter tried to stop the men from coming in, while they kept screaming 'we will kill you.' Then they fired a shot through the door which hit the WWII veteran in the chest, killing him instantly. “Why would that be necessary,' his disstraught widow said.
The couple was attacked at Oranjehof, an old-age community for Dutch pensioners who emigrated during the massive wave of emigration which the Dutch government paid for to get their ‘excess population’ out of the country shortly after WWII.
One Oranjehof resident said "it is a deeply sad story. Pieter was a well-known character and often stopped by on his bike to have chat. But this place is very unsafe, we've lived here for a long time and knew this could happen. We've had several break ins too.'
Just switched to new security company
Lottie Damhof, chairman of Oranjehof, said he feared that the fact that they had just switched to a new security company may have triggered the attack - he believes it was in revenge.
"But we will continue with our plans with the new, professional security company," he said.
Uncle Bicycle:
Their son René describes his murdered father as a 'Calvinistic Elder who helped a great many impoverished black people.'
- Bosch, born in Groningen, is referred to by his Afrikaner neighbours as 'Oom Fietsie,' Uncle Bike, because he still peddled everywhere on his bicycle despite his age.
Bosch served in the Dutch underground during WWII, and after all this hardship, also was still forced to fight in the Dutch army during the Indonesian war of independence.
After his military stint, he was forced to give up his Dutch citizenship to get a job as air force technician in South Africa - something he has deeply regretted, his son said.
"He even wrote to Prince Bernhard, husband of the late Queen Juliana of The Netherlands, in an attempt to get his Dutch citizenship returned to him, without success.'
sources:
http://nl.respectance.com/Pieter_Bosch
http://www.telegraaf.nl/binnenland/3575950/__Veteraan_vermoord_in_Zuid-Afrika__.html?p=5,
French tourist robbed in South Africa
27/03/2009 A sixty-one year old French tourist was attacked by three armed men while he was in downtown Johannesburg, withdrawing cash from an ATM in Pritchard Street.
The elderly man was physically restrained by one man while the others roughly body-searched the hapless tourist, stealing a cellphone and cash - and then forcing him at gunpoint to withdraw more cash from the ATM.
Captain John Maluleke said the two men were arrested at about 16:50 on Thursday on the corner of Noord and Twist streets.
Several alert private security guards rescued the Frenchman and they gave then chase, capturing two of the three attackers.
Some money also was recovered. Police Capt Maluleke said the two would appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Friday on charges of robbery.
The ‘advantage’ for criminals when attacking tourists is that many of these traumatised victims do not want to return to South Africa to testify in their trials. The trick used by the criminals and their lawyers is to get the trials postponed as often as possible until the tourist has left the country. Then the case is dropped from the court records. http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2492471,00.html
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