Pretoria - The police are investigating a case of assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm against an unknown man in Annlin, north of Pretoria, after he allegedly fired an airgun at a 22-year-old biker and her friend, hitting both of them.
The man apparently fired at them because he was angry about the noise and dust from their bikes.
Sarita van der Walt, 22, of Montana and her friend Stiaan Potgieter, 21, went bike riding on an open piece of land next to a block of flats where the unknown man lives at about 16:45 on Sunday afternoon.
"I ride a quadbike and my friend rides an ordinary streetbike. We've often gone riding on that vacant land because there are no fences or signs indicating that we can't.
"We stopped there again for a cigarette just before 17:00 on Sunday. The man suddenly started shooting at us as we were leaving.
Open land is private property
"I was hit in the right thigh and another friend of mine who'd arrived there by chance, Leendert Roos, 21, was hit in the buttock shortly afterwards," she said.
"My medical costs already amount to more than R1 100.
"The pellet from the airgun is lodged more than 10cm deep in my thigh.
"The doctor said it was too small to cause lead poisoning and that they'd have to cut through the muscle to remove it. I'm hoping that it will either fester out or not fester at all."
"I suppose that the man was angry because of the noise and dust from our bikes, but that's not enough to warrant shooting at us," Van der Walt said.
She has meanwhile established that the open land is private property.
"If there'd been signs on the property, we wouldn't have gone riding there."
[Story by Fanie Van Rooyen appeared in Beeld]
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