Van Rooyen Anri

Age 2. Anri van Rooyen, a two-year-old child—noted in early reports as three—died following a devastating armed attack that occurred on 13 November 2004 on a rural gravel approach road just outside Heilbron in the Free State province. The incident transpired during the evening hours when thirty-two-year-old farmer Juan van Rooyen was driving home in his utility vehicle accompanied by his wife, Renette, his four-year-old son, Janus, and his young daughter, Anri. As the family slowed down near an intersection to offer transport to a local farmworker's wife and children, two unidentified armed men suddenly materialized from the darkness and ambushed the vehicle. One of the assailants produced a firearm and fired a single shot directly into the cab. The bullet penetrated Juan van Rooyen's back, critically wounding him, and traversed through his body to strike baby Anri directly in the stomach. Although the father desperately attempted to accelerate and drive clear of the ambush site, the severe spinal damage from the bullet caused instantaneous paralysis in his lower extremities within a few meters, forcing the vehicle to a halt.Emergency medical services rushed the wounded father and daughter to the hospital. Juan van Rooyen survived the initial shooting but lost all sensation in his legs, spending three months in intensive medical care. Young Anri van Rooyen fought for her life in the hospital for two weeks before succumbing to the severe internal trauma caused by the abdominal gunshot wound on 27 November 2004.