PRETORIA NEWS Suspect held for Woodstock slaying
1 May 2010, 11:14 By Thandanani Mhlanga Police have arrested a 19-year-old man in connection with the murder of 21-year-old Adriaan van Zyl who was attacked during a burglary at his home in Plein Street, Woodstock. The suspect was arrested early on Friday at a house in Cornwall Street, Woodstock, after an intense police investigation. Woodstock police followed up information which led them to the house. The brutal attack on Thursday on the Unisa commerce student in his home, which is less than 500m from Woodstock police station, was the second murder in Woodstock in three days. A 25-year-old man was stabbed to death in Albert Road on Tuesday night. The Van Zyl family said the spate of violent killings was due to the police's fear of criminals and because the government was not doing enough to combat crime. "It doesn't seem like there's any real effort. The police station is right around the corner from our house. It's a block away, a block away," said Van Zyl's older brother, Uriah. Van Zyl's other brother, Jade, said he wondered who would be next. Meanwhile the family is still grappling with the loss of the young man they call "the most docile, peaceful, content and happy being". Uriah, 26, said the day of his brother's murder had started like any other. He left the house he shared with Adriaan at at about 7.15am for his work as a builder and returned just before 10am. Uriah said when he entered the house, accompanied by a potential investor, he saw Adriaan lying on the floor. He jokingly prompted his brother to get up, and then noticed the pool of blood. He rushed to his brother's side, pulled him into his arms and said, "Danny boy, come on. You gotta fight for me." Uriah then saw the multiple stab wounds to his brother's neck, chest and legs. As he picked Adriaan up he slipped in the blood. His colleague called the police while he got his brother into his bakkie and drove him to Chris Barnard Memorial hospital in Cape Town. While waiting to hear how Adriaan was, Uriah received a call from his mother who told him to "get on his knees and pray". He said when doctors finally delivered the news of Adriaan's death, they said: "Your brother was attacked not in a manner to scare, but to harm." Woodstock police have confirmed the murderer broke into the house through the kitchen window while Van Zyl was home alone. The suspect got away with a laptop and a cellphone but was seen by neighbours as he tried to flee. Neighbours tried to detain him but he managed to break free, dropped a back pack and ran away. The neighbours reported the suspect was covered in blood. In the bag were DVDs, a PlayStation and computer cables which Uriah told police belonged to them. The Van Zyls identified the body on Friday morning, and said it would be released on Tuesday after the post mortem on Monday. Adriaan, known as "Dane" said his brother had been a prefect at Camps Bay High and "always went to bed when told" during their childhood. The 19-year-old suspect is expected to appear in the Cape Town Magistrate's court on Monday on charges of murder and housebreaking. Since 2006, at least two academics and two students from the University of Cape Town have been murdered in the same area. Third-year UCT BSocSc student Dominic Giddy, was stabbed to death near his Glenres digs in Observatory on February 13. First-year medical student Benny Pakiso Moqobane was shot dead near his digs in Observatory in September 2009. Associate professor of science education Kevin Rochford was shot in front of his home in Little Mowbray in 2008. Commercial law professor Mike Larkin was murdered in Rondebosch in November 2007 while walking near the Riverside shopping centre . And Cape Peninsula University of Technology engineering student Masoa Pheelo, 24, was killed in Melbourne Street, Woodstock, in January. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Observatory Neighbourhood watch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/obsnw?hl=en
