A Bonza Bay retired South African Airways captain, Terry Rurter, 73, survived a near fatal assault after he was mugged while running on Bonza Bay beach last week Thursday.
He said he had to fight off the man, who he believed to be around 20 years old, to save his life.
Rurter, who regularly jogs along the beach from Beacon Bay to Gonubie, said he had never encountered any attack or threats before last week’s incident.
“I run there with other people from Bonza Bay towards Gonubie and back every day and I have never encountered an attack or seen someone being attacked,” he said.
He said despite his assailant carrying a knobkerrie, he never expected he would attack him.
“He walked a few metres away from me, near the sand dunes as I was running near the water. He changed direction towards me and I knew that there was trouble coming,” he said.
He said the youth came to him and demanded money. “How would you expect someone jogging on the beach to have money in his pockets?” he asked the man.
“The next thing he tried to fight me. I fought back and hit him in the face. He used his knobkerrie and hit me on the head. He managed to tackle me and I fell. I bled profusely. I never saw such blood in my life. Then he grabbed my car keys but later he threw them back to me,” he said.
Rurter said he had seen the same youth about three hundred metres ahead of him with another person but thought they were cuddling.
“I first thought that they were a couple playing together on the beach as they appeared to be hugging each other. I ignored them as they separated, not knowing that he was mugging her,” he said, adding that the woman who had been mugged approached him after his own incident and relayed her story.
After the incident Rurter abandoned his jog and walked home.
East London police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mtati Tana said two incidents were reported to the station last week. — bonganif@dispatch.co.za
Man fights off beach mugger
He said he had to fight off the man, who he believed to be around 20 years old, to save his life.
Rurter, who regularly jogs along the beach from Beacon Bay to Gonubie, said he had never encountered any attack or threats before last week’s incident.
“I run there with other people from Bonza Bay towards Gonubie and back every day and I have never encountered an attack or seen someone being attacked,” he said.
He said despite his assailant carrying a knobkerrie, he never expected he would attack him.
“He walked a few metres away from me, near the sand dunes as I was running near the water. He changed direction towards me and I knew that there was trouble coming,” he said.
He said the youth came to him and demanded money. “How would you expect someone jogging on the beach to have money in his pockets?” he asked the man.
“The next thing he tried to fight me. I fought back and hit him in the face. He used his knobkerrie and hit me on the head. He managed to tackle me and I fell. I bled profusely. I never saw such blood in my life. Then he grabbed my car keys but later he threw them back to me,” he said.
Rurter said he had seen the same youth about three hundred metres ahead of him with another person but thought they were cuddling.
“I first thought that they were a couple playing together on the beach as they appeared to be hugging each other. I ignored them as they separated, not knowing that he was mugging her,” he said, adding that the woman who had been mugged approached him after his own incident and relayed her story.
After the incident Rurter abandoned his jog and walked home.
East London police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mtati Tana said two incidents were reported to the station last week. — bonganif@dispatch.co.za
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