Family mourns 'a very good man' killed in Emmarentia road rage shooting

A family is grieving the loss of Faisal Ul Rehman, a beloved husband and father, following a road rage shooting in Emmarentia, Johannesburg. 

Strapped to a hospital bed, being treated for gunshot wounds to her hand and shoulder after she too was hit in the incident on Sunday, Tehseen Zahara Faisal had no idea what had happened to her husband.

And her family could not bring themselves to tell her either.

But by late Monday morning, they had no choice as she was the only person who could decide what would happen to her husband's body — whether Faisal Ul Rehman, 48, would be buried in SA or sent home to Pakistan.

"So we sat her down and told her the truth," Muhammad Wasi Haider, Rehman's nephew, said.

"She did not take it well."

Gauteng police spokesperson Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said Rehman was killed after a minor fender-bender on Barry Hertzog Avenue turned into a fist fight, then a shooting.

"It is alleged that a female passenger, suspected to be the wife of one of the drivers, went to get a firearm from the car, and the second driver also pulled out his firearm, resulting in a shooting which claimed the life of the husband, leaving the other driver and the female passenger injured," Nevhuhulwi said.

"The police will be investigating a case of murder and attempted murder.

"The public, especially drivers, is urged to always abide by traffic rules and exercise patience while using public roads to avoid road rage situations."

A 58-year-old man was arrested at the scene and is expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, mere hours before Rehman is to be buried at Westpark Cemetery.

A video of the aftermath of the incident, which has since spread widely on social media, paints a devastating picture.

In it, the dead man's young daughter can be seen screaming and crying over her father's body as it lies on the side of the road.

Her younger brother, his small hands covered in blood, desperately tries to revive his father with CPR.

Nearby, their mother sits wounded on the ground, bleeding from her gunshot wounds.

Haider, the son of Rehman's sister, had to identify his uncle's body at the mortuary on Monday.

He said his mind "has not worked properly since".

"I consider myself a very smart person, but my brain is not working," he said.

"I went to his house and I couldn't. I just couldn't... it was all just too much.

"We're still all in very bad shock. I saw the children yesterday.

"They're feeling a bit better, but it is still very difficult."

He said Rehman was born in August 1977 and that he was a car dealer who rebuilt and sold vehicles from a floor in Pretoria.

He said he owned a licensed firearm because of the nature of his work.

Haider said he doubted his uncle had ever even fired it at a shooting range for fun. He had no criminal record.

"You can search his ID," Haider said.

"He never had a criminal record.

"He just had it [the firearm] for safety reasons because of the business that we do."

But what haunts the family most is what his death has done to everyone who depended on him.

Haider said Rehman was the sole provider for more than 15 households in Pakistan.

Every month, he sent money back home.

"He looked after orphan children and he gave to charity," he said.

"His death didn't just cause death to his own household.

"With his death, a lot of people's income has stopped.

"He was a very, very, very good man."

The family has decided to send Rehman's body to Pakistan for burial.

Haider said telling Tehseen was one of the hardest things the family has had to do.

"We had to tell her because we needed to know what to do with the deceased, whether we were sending Faisal to Pakistan, whether we were doing the burial in SA," he said.

"Only she could make the decision."

Faisal had two brothers in SA, Haider said, but the family collectively decided the body should go to Pakistan.

"Knowing his wife is in hospital, the two children, we are having to look after the two children," Haider said.

"It's a big, big, big problem.

"After the ordeal and the things I'm having to do after his death for the family... it's not like we have a choice or anything."

In the meantime, relatives are looking after the couple's two children.

Haider said the family wanted justice.

He rejected any suggestion that the shooting was self-defence and called it culpable homicide.

"Faisal did not point the firearm at him and start shooting," he said.

"That person could have avoided killing Faisal.

"He could have shot him anywhere else to disarm him. But he shot to kill him, which is not self-defence. That's culpable homicide.

"I definitely want justice to prevail ... I'm going to pursue this to the fullest of my capacity."

But for now, he said he was organising the funeral.

"My first concern now is get the funeral done, get Faisal buried as soon as possible," Haider said.

"After that, focus on my auntie's health and focus on this case.

He called Faisal a good worker, a good father, a good friend, and a good brother. Then he went quiet for a moment.

"That's all I can tell you."

Weekend Argus