Retired John van den Berg, 69, survived a beach attack by up to three thugs armed with bricks and knives at Gulu river mouth outside East London yesterday.
The gang stole the Aqualea Park, Gulu, resident’s white 2004 Bantam bakkie and personal possessions during the attack which took place at about 2pm. The vehicle was later recovered in Ncera.
Van den Berg told a friend, Tanya Schenk, that he managed to draw his pocket knife and fought back, stabbing one assailant in the head.
Bleeding, stabbed, and battered, Van den Berg staggered 2.5km home on the R72 to Aqualea Park on the Gulu River where he was rushed in the back seat of a station wagon by Schenk and her husband Bruce to St Dominic’s Hospital in East London.
When the Dispatch called the hospital, a family friend, Carmen Robertson, said Van den Berg was about to have a brain scan.
Police, who were accused of failing to respond to the incident, asked for written media queries to be e-mailed to the provincial head office.
However, Lieutenant-Colonel Mtati Tana said: “We are busy investigating an incident at Kidds Beach.”
Neville Hort, a resident of Aqualea Park, said Van den Berg was hit on the head with bricks, and stabbed in the hand and arms.
Hort said police were called at 2.10pm and by 4.30pm had not appeared.
He said that after being told that an ambulance would be sent from Port Alfred 110km away, residents decided to take him 25km to hospital in East London themselves.
“He arrived in total shock. He could not talk, he could not answer, he was just staring. He was covered in blood. He looked like he had been in World War I. His finger was half on.”
Hort said: “He went to the river to throw old bait away, and as he climbed into his car they came from the bush and attacked.”
Hort said it was the third attack in recent years.
In September 2012 angler Neville Krause’s skull was cracked in two places when he and his son, Selwyn, were attacked with bricks and knives and their bakkie stolen near the beach at the East London race track.
Former Proteas junior angler Selwyn, 31, said the attackers hit them both on their heads with bricks, but his 62-year-old father took heavy blows that scans showed had caused a 7cm and a 3cm crack in his skull.
On August 31, 2012, Proteas angler Peter Dowie, 61, spent two nights in hospital recovering from a deep stab wound in his leg and a gash in the head from being bashed with a rock when two muggers attacked him in the Gulu parking lot.
The Dispatch reported that the attacks were linked to a large gang whose members commute from East London to carry out their muggings at outlying beaches.
A fisherman of 43 years, who has served as vice-chairman of the Border Rock & Surf Angling Association, Dowie said anglers had been attacked at Chintsa, Bonza Bay, Gonubie, Cove Rock, Xanadu, Monkey Bay and Gulu that year. — mikel@dispatch.co.za
Angler, 69, escapes beach attack
The gang stole the Aqualea Park, Gulu, resident’s white 2004 Bantam bakkie and personal possessions during the attack which took place at about 2pm. The vehicle was later recovered in Ncera.
Van den Berg told a friend, Tanya Schenk, that he managed to draw his pocket knife and fought back, stabbing one assailant in the head.
Bleeding, stabbed, and battered, Van den Berg staggered 2.5km home on the R72 to Aqualea Park on the Gulu River where he was rushed in the back seat of a station wagon by Schenk and her husband Bruce to St Dominic’s Hospital in East London.
When the Dispatch called the hospital, a family friend, Carmen Robertson, said Van den Berg was about to have a brain scan.
Police, who were accused of failing to respond to the incident, asked for written media queries to be e-mailed to the provincial head office.
However, Lieutenant-Colonel Mtati Tana said: “We are busy investigating an incident at Kidds Beach.”
Neville Hort, a resident of Aqualea Park, said Van den Berg was hit on the head with bricks, and stabbed in the hand and arms.
Hort said police were called at 2.10pm and by 4.30pm had not appeared.
He said that after being told that an ambulance would be sent from Port Alfred 110km away, residents decided to take him 25km to hospital in East London themselves.
“He arrived in total shock. He could not talk, he could not answer, he was just staring. He was covered in blood. He looked like he had been in World War I. His finger was half on.”
Hort said: “He went to the river to throw old bait away, and as he climbed into his car they came from the bush and attacked.”
Hort said it was the third attack in recent years.
In September 2012 angler Neville Krause’s skull was cracked in two places when he and his son, Selwyn, were attacked with bricks and knives and their bakkie stolen near the beach at the East London race track.
Former Proteas junior angler Selwyn, 31, said the attackers hit them both on their heads with bricks, but his 62-year-old father took heavy blows that scans showed had caused a 7cm and a 3cm crack in his skull.
On August 31, 2012, Proteas angler Peter Dowie, 61, spent two nights in hospital recovering from a deep stab wound in his leg and a gash in the head from being bashed with a rock when two muggers attacked him in the Gulu parking lot.
The Dispatch reported that the attacks were linked to a large gang whose members commute from East London to carry out their muggings at outlying beaches.
A fisherman of 43 years, who has served as vice-chairman of the Border Rock & Surf Angling Association, Dowie said anglers had been attacked at Chintsa, Bonza Bay, Gonubie, Cove Rock, Xanadu, Monkey Bay and Gulu that year. — mikel@dispatch.co.za
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