“ Moenie skiet nie, hy is my kleinkind.” [Don't shoot, he's my grandchild]
This was the desperate plea of an 82-year-old great-grandmother as 14-year-old Aqeel Joseph was murdered in front of her in Woodlands, Mitchells Plain, on Monday.
The elderly woman was in her kitchen when she heard gunshots and then saw her great-grandson running inside, followed by a gunman dressed in a green “council” overall.
Speaking in Afrikaans, the old lady, who asked not to be named, tells the Daily Voice: “I was in the kitchen standing in front of the sink when I heard a gunshot and I thought something had
fallen.
“Then Aqeel came running in and I heard two more
gunshots.
“I saw that Aqeel was hit and he fell by the kitchen door.
14-year-old Aqeel Joseph was murdered in Woodlands. Picture supplied
“He reached out to me but I didn’t take his hand because I was afraid the person was going to shoot me as well.
“I shouted at the shooter ‘don’t shoot him, he is my grandchild’, but he didn’t stop shooting.”
“He was dressed in green, like a council worker, and he took the gun and wiped it off on his clothing and then he put it in his pocket and left.”
Witnesses say Aqeel and his friend Dylan Petersen, 21, were standing on a street
corner in Jenner Gardens when they were confronted by the gunman and ran.
Dylan was also hit and died on the scene.
Aqeel’s father, Jamal Petersen, 32, says moments before the shooting happened, he still warned his son not to stand on the street corner due to gang shootings.
He says they have no idea why Dylan and Aqeel were targeted.
SHOT: Dylan Petersen, 21
Aqeel, a Grade 7 pupil, had dropped out of Northwood Primary School earlier this year.
“I walked past him at 10.30am and chased him back home,” a hartseer Jamal says.
“I often warned him not to stand on the corners.
“I don’t know why this happened but it was probably a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Dylan’s parents who asked not to be identified says the two boys were not gangsters.
Dylan, who has a one-month-old baby, was also shot in 2015, the injury to his spine leaving him disabled and carrying a limp.
“He and Aqeel were not gangsters,” says Dylan’s ouma.
SHOCK: Woodlands community say the two were not gangsters. Picture: Leon Knipe
Police spokesperson, Captain FC van Wyk, says officers patrolling the area heard the gunshots and responded immediately.
“They followed up and saw two victims with multiple gunshot wounds on their bodies,” he says.
“Both victims were certified dead by ambulance personnel on the scene.
“The motive behind the incident is unknown at this stage.”
genevieve.serra@inl.co.za