A Durbanville man, who was stabbed while walking home, says a doctor at Mediclinic Durbanville told him he would have died if he had arrived 20 minutes later.
The man doesn’t want to be named as he fears for his safety, but he told Northern News about the stabbing near Morningstar, on Saturday October 15, at 2am.
He had been walking home after a night out with friends at a Durbanville bar.
“As I walked past Morningstar, I was approached by a man who asked for a cigarette. I ignored him and carried on walking.“
When he approached the El-Shaddai traffic circle, he heard footsteps coming from behind.
“When I turned around, two guys in hoodies were standing in front of me and one said I should give him my phone. I said he was mad, and when I pushed him away he stabbed me.
“He said if I don’t hand over my phone, he’s going to stab me again. I then threw my phone and ran away while they chased after me.”
He does not remember feeling the pain the moment he was stabbed but noticed a burning sensation in his chest while he was running away from his attackers.
“I looked at my shirt and saw the blood.”
He knocked on the doors of two houses in Olive Close, but his cries for help went unanswered.
“At the first house, I took my shirt off to close the wound. I was banging on the door and the windows but never got a response. I knocked next door and still no help.
“I then crawled towards the third house and I tripped the alarm beams outside the driveway. At this time, my whole body felt very weak. I just laid there in front of the house hoping the alarm would be activated and someone could help because I felt like I was going to die.”
The homeowner Wilma van Tonder rushed to his aid when she found him lying in front of her house.
“We were asleep when the alarm was triggered around 3am. The security called and my husband said everything was okay as he saw no-one through the window,” she says.
“The alarm went off again so I decided to look outside. I opened our front door and saw someone lying in front of my gate. I had my phone with me and immediately called the ambulance.”
She recalls seeing him lying on his side in front of her house without his shirt on.
“I found his shirt and tried to stop the bleeding; it was soaked. He already lost a lot of blood and was speaking very slowly. He asked me if he was going to die, and I reassured him that he wouldn’t.”
An ambulance took the man to Mediclinic Durbanville, where, he says, a doctor told him his lung had been punctured.
“He also told me if I arrived here 20 minutes later I would’ve been dead.”
He has since opened a case of attempted murder at Durbanville police station.
Police are investigating, but no arrests have been made, according to Durbanville police spokesperson Captain Marchell Rhode.
The man received stitches and was discharged from hospital, but he says he still has a hole in his lung and doctors told him he would need 18 to 20 weeks of recovery.
He is a self-employed artisan but is giving his hands a rest as he recovers.
“I can’t pick up heavy stuff and exercise excessively. I still feel pain in the lung and it still hurts when I yawn or take a deep breath.”
He says he is very grateful to Ms Van Tonder, whom he credits with saving his life.