A long-distance runner will have to write off his 29th Comrades Marathon later this month after being shot in both legs and a shoulder in a brutal hijacking in Duncan Village.
David “Butch” Duffey of Southernwood was giving a friend a lift on Friday evening when he saw two men sitting at the roadside.
“As I parked and got out of the vehicle, the two men pushed me against the car, and shot me in the leg.
“I was crying, begging them not to kill me.
“Every time I cried, they threatened to kill me. They shot me in each leg and in my arm.
“After the third bullet, I thought I was going to die. They kept on saying ‘shut up or we are going to kill you’,” he recalled.
Duffey is now in ICU at a local hospital awaiting surgery.
The attackers took his vehicle, cellphone, wallet and watch, and his friend’s cellphone.
During the attack, Duffey’s friend fled, as the men threatened to shoot her too.
Duffey said: “They told her to run away or else they would shoot her too.
“After they left she came back and called the police and paramedics.”
Speaking to DispatchLIVE, he said he had been looking forward to participating in the 95th Comrades Marathon on August 28.
“It would have been my 29th Comrades. I have been a runner for 34 years now.”
After the attack Duffey recalled: “I was lying on my stomach on the tar road in so much pain, hoping I was not going to die.
“It was a terrible experience.”
He said the ambulance arrived 45 minutes after the men fled in his vehicle.
“I was begging the paramedics to save my life. I did not want to die just yet. I was fighting for my life.
“I hope they get caught. I do not wish that experience on anyone.
“But I am grateful to be alive. If they had shot me in the chest I don’t think I’d have made it.”
He said the two men were in normal clothes and were not disguised.
“They messed up one shoulder and both my knees, but I am hopeful that after my surgery I will recover well and hit the tar again.”
Duffey is well known for being one of the top contenders in the gruelling annual Washie 100 race, which is the 160km distance from Port Alfred to East London.
Duncan crime forum founder Ludumo Salman confirmed the incident happened on Friday evening at around 7.30pm.
“I heard that it happened Msimango Street in Duncan Village.”
The attack followed a similar hijacking attempt on Sunday July 31.
“A man survived a hijack, he was shot in the leg. They could not steal the vehicle, but they took two of his cellphones, a wallet, and R500 in cash.
“We are living in scary times,” Salman said.
DispatchLIVE
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