On Wednesday 5 August 2009, at approximately 09h00, three men held up Sterns at the Irene village mall, Pretoria.
A mall security guard disturbed the suspects during the robbery and they fled on foot, pursued by the security guard. As the fleeing suspect and security guard ran onto Nelmapius road outside the mall, a Protea Securiy Rapid Response vehicle drove past and tried to assist. At the same time, a senior manager of Protea Coin, Mr Jaco Pretorius (37) also drove past the scene on his way to a meeting.
It would appear that, on seeing the pursuit on foot and the presence of the Protea Coin vehicle; that Jaco instantly decided to assist and pulled his vehicle over in an apparent attempt to stop the fleeing suspect. The suspect fired a shot into the vehicle through the open rear passenger window, hitting Jaco in the upper body. Jaco drove away, reportedly to drive to hospital on realising that he was wounded. On the R21 road he passed away from his injuries and his vehicle came to a standstill.
A passenger in his vehicle, a colleague from Protea Coin, was unharmed. One person has been taken into custody for questioning and detectives are continuing with intensive investigations.
Jaco was a former detective and left the South African Police (SAPS) to join Protea Coin. He was well respected and much loved by his colleagues in both the SAPS and Protea Coin. He leaves his wife, Karen and two children, Ricardo (eight) and Marco (three), he will be sadly missed.
Issued by: South African Police Service
6 August 2009
Source: South African Police Service (http://www.saps.gov.za/)
