mrselfdestrukt's Journal: News Flash: Sons see dad shot six times.

Sons see dad shot six times
11/01/2006 22:47 - (SA)

Robin O'Brien, who was shot six times in an attack, and his wife, Tracy, with their two sons, Ethan, left, and Sebastian.

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Pieter Jordaan , Beeld

Johannesburg - "Why did they throw firecrackers at daddy?" asked a worried five-year-old shortly after his father had been shot six times in front of him on Saturday night next to Beyers Naudé Drive on the West Rand.

Robin O'Brien, 32, and his wife Tracy, 27, were returning from a children's party in Honeydew with Sebastian and their other son, Ethan, two, to their smallholding in Muldersdrift.

Despite being hit six times and having another three exit wounds, O'Brien is recovering from his ordeal in the high-care unit at a Krugersdorp hospital.

Robin pulled off the road about 21:00 on Beyers Naudé Drive to switch on the car's rain sensors.

"See, they're working now," Robin told Tracy.

The next moment, shots began ringing out.

Tracy said: "The windows exploded, and the shots kept on coming. I vaguely saw the robber's dark figure next to the car."

Son was frozen with fear

She said Robin suddenly looked at her with fear in his eyes and said: "Darling, I've been shot."

She called out to him: "Just put your foot on the accelerator."

"I saw he'd been shot in his arm and put my right hand over the wound while I changed gears with my left hand," said Tracy.

Sebastian sat frozen on the back seat, and the sound of the shots jerked Ethan awake from a deep sleep. Fortunately, the boys were not hit.

Tracy said: "I told Robin to pull over, but he kept on driving to Muldersdrift police station."

At the police station, Tracey jumped out of the car, told her sons to stay with their father and went to get help. Robin tried to get out the car, but fell down.

The police phoned for an ambulance while Tracy tried to put pressure on her husband's wounds.

When Tracy saw her husband's eyes begin to roll back, she said: "Stay with me, I can see the lights of the ambulance!"

But Robin's father and brother-in-law were in the next car that turned in to the station, as Tracy had called them earlier.

Robin's father, Michael O'Brien, said: "We put Robin in the car and Colin (his brother-in-law) rushed him to Krugersdorp Private Hospital.

Heart, both lungs were hit

"Halfway there, they drove past the ambulance."

O'Brien sen said one of the bullets that hit Robin had lodged in his heart and both his lungs also had been hit.

"He had six bullet wounds and another three additional ones where the bullets had come out of his body. Doctors said he would have died if we'd waited any longer."

A Krugersdorp Private Hospital spokesperson confirmed that O'Brien was still in the high-care unit on Wednesday, but said he was making good progress.