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2008-01-12
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Annelene Moses, Beeld

Johannesburg - A traumatised domestic worker has described how she called her employer to come home, only for him to be shot dead by burglars.

Nick Karvelas, 44, principal of the Sparrows Private School in Alberton, was in the news recently for intervening when police were allegedly beating-up suspected housebreakers.

Liesbet Mokwena said on Tuesday she called Karvelas at about 11:00, saying there "was trouble at home".

The gardener, identified only as Joseph, had been working in the garden, with the gate open.

Four men pounced on him shortly after 10:00, while Mokwena was busy in the laundry room.

She heard the men and ran to one of the rooms on the top floor of the house.

"I used my phone and told the school that there was trouble at home. I left a message to say Nicky should come home and bring along the police."

Not aware of what awaited him, Karvelas decided to go home alone to his house in Launceton Street, which is not far from the school.

Die 'for things that belong to white people'

The robbers had found Mokwena and began to shove her and Joseph around.

"They dragged me by my feet and said I would die for things that belonged to the white people."

She and Joseph were made to lie face down next to each other, and Joseph's hand and ankles were bound with neckties. Only her feet were tied up.

The robbers had begun to loot household items by the time Karvelas got home.

"He called: 'Liesbet, Liesbet!' I couldn't warn him."

She heard a single shot. The robbers abandoned their loot, fleeing in a red Golf. Karvelas's car was left in his driveway.

"I untied the ties around my ankles and ran outside. I looked and looked and then I saw him lying in the street, struggling for breath. I just began to scream.

"He was such a good person. I helped to raise his two sons (aged 13 and seven). Nicky was never anything but good to me."