Rudolph Roach

Rudi Roach (1958 – 2008)

Brief overview:

Rudi (50), a teacher, was shot dead on his Kameeldrift farm just after midnight, 22nd October 2008. Two armed men broke into the bedroom of their house. His wife, Veronica, awoke to her husband shouting, and the attackers ordering them to remain silent. They fired shots killing Rudi instantly.

"They didn't come to steal, they came to kill," said a devastated Veronica Roach after a group of robbers murdered her husband, Rudi, 50, in the early hours of Tuesday morning on their smallholding at Kameeldrift north-east of Pretoria - for two cellphones and a few cans of beer.
Rudi was a teacher who had taught at Zwartkop High in Centurion for the past four years. He and his wife would have celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary in a few months.

Veronica and her daughters, Bonny Bekker (26), and Kira Roach (24), said two armed men burst into their home at about quarter to one in the morning and went to the couple's bedroom. Rudi started shouting. The robbers ordered him to shut up and warned him if he made any move, they would shoot him. "My husband shouted loudly and they started shooting. He was killed on the spot," Veronica said. Her son emerged from his bedroom to see what the commotion was. Veronica said she was lying on the bed. The robbers scrambled over her to get to her son. They shot him twice in the shoulder. Rüdiger ran away. "They followed him and another bullet hit him in the back." The family said if Rüdiger hadn't reached his parents' bedroom so quickly, something might have happened to his mother. The robbers fled with the couple's cellphones. Later empty beer cans were found in the yard. The robbers had taken the beer from the outside fridge. Bekker and her husband lived in a separate house on the smallholding. They heard the shots and went to investigate. "We couldn't believe that my dad had been murdered. "We were shocked to see that my brother had also been shot. My husband and I immediately called the police and took my brother to the hospital," she said, crying. Kira was in Johannesburg when the attack occurred.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
  • The couples son, Rüdiger (16), a student at John Vorster Higher Technical School in Pretoria, who went to investigate, was shot three times, twice in the shoulder, then in the back when the perpetrators chased after him. He was taken to the Montana hospital in a serious condition.
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)
  • The police suspect the same attackers were also involved in a failed house robbery in the area during which a man was lightly wounded with a knife, as well as a burglary at another home. "Nothing was stolen in this burglary," Police spokesperson Mabel Sibanda said.

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
  • The attackers fled with two phones and a few tins of beer
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
• Torture, Gratuitous violence
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions
• Arrests
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction

Additional Biographical Information:

Links to Media articles:

• http://web.archive.org/web/20081025051959/www.news24.com/News24/Sou...
• http://archive.fo/t2RjD
• https://web.archive.org/web/20081022185516/http://www.news24.com/Be...
• https://southafricanews.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/man-shot-dead-in-r...
• http://archive.is/gJ2rc
• http://archive.is/29FO5
• https://archive.is/1mnMl
• https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000194568102828