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2008-01-12
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Dries Liebenberg, Beeld

Durban - "Phone the police, we're being robbed!" A restaurant manager in Durban managed to shout these words on the phone to her business partner seconds before shots rang out, claiming the life of one man and leaving three wounded.

Marc Joubert, 30, and his fiancée were guests at a 30th birthday party held on Saturday evening at the St Tropez restaurant in Morningside, when he was shot in the neck. He died shortly afterwards.

Seven robbers burst into the restaurant at about 22:00 as the manager was closing up on the ground floor, while the birthday party on the first floor continued.

The robbers pushed the manager under a table, but she stayed focused and hid her cellphone from them, said the owner, Cheryl Sturlese. "With an armed robber towering over her table she phoned me."

Sturlese heard later from her son who was a DJ at the party, Kelvin Smith, 19, that he came out of the toilet moments before the shots were fired.

"One of the robbers grabbed him and he hit the man, thinking he was a barman who was joking around."

Neil Noble, ER24 spokesperson said it appeared that the three robbers stayed on the ground floor while the rest of them went to rob the party guests.

"Exactly how the shooting began no one knows. Some say the robbers got a fright when a glass fell, others say a guest started throwing plates and glasses at them," Sturlese said.

Besides Joubert, two guests and a waiter were hit in the hip, pelvis and hand.

Phindile Radebe, police spokesperson, said the robbers fled with cash, jewellery and cellphones.