A 54-year-old man who allegedly stabbed a gangster in self-defence during an altercation on Monday night has been arrested and had his car torched, allegedly by the dead gangster’s friends.
The incident occurred in Old Stanford Road, Helenvale, at about 8pm when Glendon Jansen, 29, arrived at a house and allegedly confronted the homeowner.
Jansen is believed to be affiliated to the Boomshaka gang while police say the home owner has no gang affiliation.
Police are withholding the homeowner’s name until he is in court on Wednesday.
Police spokesperson Col Priscilla Naidu said Jansen arrived at the house with a baseball bat and allegedly started beating the 54-year-old when he walked out of the house.
“The fight then escalated and the owner had a knife in his possession.
“He allegedly stabbed Jansen in the chest and back during the fight,” she said.
“Shortly after the stabbing, Jansen was taken to hospital where he died.
“In this time, the homeowner had already alerted police and fled the scene together with his family.” Naidu said the home owner handed himself over to police later that night.
“While he was at the police station, Jansen’s friends allegedly went to his house where they broke windows and started trashing the property,” Naidu said.
“Police were alerted but before they arrived, the suspects torched the man’s bakkie, which was parked outside.”
Naidu said police arrested Elrico Roberts, 35, also a suspected member of the Boomshaka gang, at the house.
Roberts appeared in the Gelvandale Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday and was charged with malicious damage to property and public violence. He was granted R500 bail. Officials suspect the group who went to the house are gangsters who wanted revenge for Jansen’s death. “The family were, however, not there,” Naidu said.
“They have also not returned home, for their safety.”
She said the reason for the fight was not known at this stage.
“Detectives are still looking into the motive for the fight.
“It is alleged there was a verbal dispute at the weekend and this is a spin-off from then.”
Naidu said detectives were struggling to get information as residents were reluctant to talk.
The attack on the homeowner comes at a time when police have launched several anti-gang clampdown operations to curb gang violence in the area.
Between December 3 and mid-January, 119 arrests were made for various gang-related incidents.