'Dad, I've been shot'

They're doing it tough in the rainbow nation.

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The owner of an ambulance service in Pretoria was seriously injured in a robbery, a few hours before he and his wife were to renew their wedding vows on their 12th wedding anniversary.

Kobus Bester, 38, owner of Best Care ambulance services, was shot in the right side during the robbery at his house in Mountain View. The bullet exited through his left side.

He underwent emergency surgery at Eugène Marais Hospital on Wednesday afternoon and is in intensive care.

His wife, Elize, 35, was at the hairdresser when she was told her husband had been shot.

She was having her hair done for the evening's ceremony at the Onderstepoort hall.

Jacobus van Dyk, 63, Bester's father-in-law, said he and Bester were having a drink just before the incident happened.

Terrible fright
"We finished our drinks and I told him I was going to lie down for a while. He said he was going to take a bath.

"I went to my flat in the backyard and had just walked in when I heard a shot. Kobus shouted: 'Dad, I've been shot, I've been shot'," Van Dyk said.

He said Leah Kekana, 35, the domestic worker, was also in the backyard at that point. She got a terrible fright.

"I pushed Leah in through the back door [of the flat] and then ran to the front. I didn't have my pistol with me and couldn't do anything.

"Then I saw Kobus. I grabbed him, lay him down on the couch and called the police."

Van Dyk said Bester told him that, as he went to have a bath, he heard a noise outside where his bakkie was parked. When he went to investigate, the robbers shot him.

"Things like this must get into the papers so that the world can see what's going on in the country," Van Dyk said.

Elize Bester said the function has been postponed, and the 70-odd guests who had been invited, have been notified.

The wedding dress was taken back to the shop from which she rented it.

Suspect caught
Police spokesperson Captain Bonginkosi Msimango said the police used a helicopter to catch the suspect.

"The police are investigating a case of attempted murder and attempted burglary," Msimango said.

The suspect will appear in court soon.