“He died in my arms.”
These are the words of Zanyika Maclean, whose life partner, Mason McCleeve, was killed during a break-in at their home in Rocky Drift on June 16.
A group of men had entered the family’s home at around 10:00, after which they shot McCleeve and fled the scene on foot.
Maclean said they had had a wonderful Youth Day and were planning on leaving to visit McCleeve’s family in Johannesburg the following day.
“He woke up in such a good mood. We had the best day together.”
However, the family’s idyllic day would soon take a turn for the worse.
Maclean said she had an uneasy feeling when the family had gone to sleep that night, even checking and rechecking to make sure the doors were locked.
“I wasn’t sleeping well, and something in me just said, ‘Open your eyes’. And then I saw the shadow.”
A group of men had entered the room where the couple and their son were sleeping. As Maclean told it, McCleeve jumped up and immediately started tackling the intruders.
“He did everything to keep them away from us.”
Maclean stayed in the room with her son. She heard gunshots but waited until the commotion had died down before she went to go find McCleeve.
Maclean is unsure of when her partner was shot, but found him lying on the grass outside their home. She immediately started searching for wounds and saw a massive gunshot wound in his stomach.
The couple’s home is situated in a small community and is surrounded by other homes. “Our neighbours came out and helped put him in the car. We didn’t even wait for the ambulance.
“I looked at the wound and even thought, ‘Ok, he can survive this’.”
Unfortunately, this did not happen as McCleeve died on the way to Kiaat Private Hospital.
“How can people do something like this? Like, beat him up or shoot him in the leg. But immediately shooting him like that?”
According to the community, an incident like this had not happened in the area in 13 years.
Maclean and McCleeve had been together for six years and have a three-year-old son. “There was a lot of love in our home,” said Maclean, who is currently staying with friends. “I can’t go back to the house.”
The police’s investigation is currently underway.
Originally published in Lowvelder
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