Grandad murdered for TV and cellphone
Lizelle Seconds Lizelle Seconds
Cape Town - A 70-year-old pensioner was murdered when he tried to protect his wife during a robbery at their Surrey Estate home.
The burglars fled with a TV and a cellphone after assaulting and tying up the couple with cable ties.
Police said Peter Goliath died after he put up a fight in a valiant attempt to protect his wife Elizabeth, 67, and home.
After the culprits fled. Elizabeth regained consciousness, managed to untie herself and hobbled to the neighbours to find help.
A neighbour, who asked not be named as she feared for her safety, said she heard a door opening at about 4am and got up to check through her window. “I looked out and saw her coming out of her house She told me they were just robbed. I asked her if Peter was okay and she said he wasn’t well.”
The neighbour contacted the neighbourhood watch and they called the police and the paramedics.
The neighbour said she was in shock as this was the first time something like this had happened in their area.
Yesterday, family and friends mourned the brutal killing of Goliath.
It is believed the couple woke up in the early hours yesterday morning to the sound of burglars entering their home through the front window in their lounge.
The couple’s daughter Lizelle Seconds said she received a call just after 4am and was told to come to her parents’ home as something had happened. She said her dad had recently been in hospital because he was epileptic so she thought it might have something to do with his illness.
Instead, she was shocked to hear that he had been murdered and her mother had
been attacked. “They assaulted my mom tied them up with cable ties.”
She said her dad had been found dead on the floor next to the bed in their bedroom.
“It looked like there was a struggle. My mom is in a lot pain and they are sending her for X-rays.”
As tears welled up in her eyes, she said her father was a good man, a real character.
“He always had a lot of ‘sê-goedjies’. He also had a very dry sense of humour.”
The couple have five granddaughters. Seconds said her father loved all his grand children and “they loved their pa”.
“He was a very loving grandfather.”
She said she could not believe that people would take a life for a TV and a cellphone.
“Is that the value of life? I want to know why two old people? Why hurt them and kill him?”
Police spokesperson FC van Wyk said it appears Goliath put up a fight to protect his wife and his home, but ultimately died due to his injuries, before he could receive medical treatment. Elizabeth was being treated at a nearby hospital.
“The suspects fled the scene taking a flat screen television and a cellular phone. A case of house robbery with the intent to commit a crime and murder was opened for investigation.”
Yasien Regal, chairperson of the Surrey Estate Neighbourhood Watch, said such burglaries were not a common occurrence as was the case in other areas where gangs used crowbars to enter properties.