Strydom Jaco "Chappies"

Strydom had made a "krismisbed" (mattresses on the floor) for his family the previous evening. He, his wife Inge, and their three young sons (aged six, eight, and twelve respectively) were sleeping together in the living room when the attackers stormed in. When the robbers struck, Strydom immediately jumped up, grabbed a steel pipe, and confronted the armed intruders head-on. By fighting back and acting as a shield, he gave his wife and three sons the necessary time to flee the room and escape. During the scuffle and confrontation, as many as seven shots were fired inside the house. Strydom was shot in the chest by the attackers. Upon the police's arrival at the scene, he had already succumbed to a fatal chest wound. Strydom was a very well-known and beloved figure in the Pretoria area. He worked alongside his friend and colleague as a marketing advisor at HJ Bosch & Sons panelbeaters in Pretoria. Scarcely three days before his death, an 82-year-old man, Mossie Mostert, was murdered only 20 km away, and a month prior, an elderly woman was shot dead just 750 meters from Strydom's smallholding. The investigation into the murder of Jaco "Chappies" Strydom has reached a standstill, with no arrests or convictions recorded by the South African Police Service. Following the fatal shooting on July 28, 2025, police forensic teams combed the smallholding property for physical evidence, confirming that the attackers used at least two different firearms based on the shell casings recovered from the scene.