With a bullet in her left leg, Judy Cloete (64), owner of Palmiet Winkel on the R102 between Blanco and the airport, kept her cool after being shot and crawled out to the flat behind the shop from where she and her husband, Jan (69), fled from three robbers.
It happened on Thursday at about 14:15. It was a quiet afternoon and there were no customers in or around the shop. Judy was sitting behind the counter reading, when a shuffle from the entrance made her look up. Three figures approached her and, without a word, the one in the middle pulled the trigger of his revolver. "Fortunately I was in the process of getting up as he fired the shot, otherwise the bullet would have hit my stomach or heart and I might not have been alive today," she told the George Herald on Friday.
The couple fled out the back door, locking the security gate from the outside and clambering over the fence to their neighbour, Tanie Barnard. But, Barnard's phone calls to the police were to no avail. Eventually, a neighbour from across the road, Michael du Plessis, could be reached and he got hold of the police.
By then the three men had fled in a silver VW golf with about R500 stolen from the till. Witnesses apparently saw them drive away at a high speed down the dirt road next to the shop in a northerly direction.
Cloete was already back home on Thursday night after the bullet was removed in hospital. "I was fortunate that it was only a flesh wound," she said.
Her shocked husband was grateful to have her back. Jan was in the flat getting ready to go to town for shopping errands when the shot was fired.
The brave woman says that she and her husband have no intention of giving up on the business, despite this being her third encounter with criminals on the premises. During a robbery in 1992 by six Nigerian men, she was seriously injured and she and her ex-husband were tied up. She went for counselling afterwards, which helped her cope.
In another incident earlier this year, a man had entered the shop and had started throwing things around while shouting racist remarks and threatening her in a rapping rhythm, jumping onto the counter. She simply remained calm until help arrived. "I believe that God protects me and therefore I will not give up my shop. This is how we make a living."
A robbery case was opened and is still under investigation. Nobody has been arrested yet and anyone with information is requested to contact the investigating officer, Sergeant Patrick Songwiqi, on: 044 803 4714.
In Thembalethu police arrested a woman who had stabbed her husband to death following an argument over money for their children's medicine. According to the police, the deceased, Mr Vuyani Qege (42), refused to give his wife money, after which she stabbed him in the left side of his neck. He died on the scene. She appeared in the Thembalethu Magistrate's Court this week on a charge of murder.
* Die eienaar van Palmiet Winkel naby Blanco is Donderdag in 'n rooftog in die winkel in haar linkerbeen gewond. Judy Cloete (64) sê gelukkig het sy slegs 'n vleiswond opgedoen. Die polisie is op soek na drie mans wat in 'n silwerkleurige VW Golf gevlug het.
Jan Cloete, shocked after his wife was wounded and taken to hospital. Palmiet Winkel and its owners are well-known in the Geelhoutboom and Blanco area. The shop has been trading here for decades.
ARTICLE AND PHOTOS: ALIDA DE BEER, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
