Manenberg teen in ICU after being hit with a brick slab
“EVERY TIME I close my eyes, I see his face,” said distraught Manenberg mother Sereldine Visser as she waited to hear the fate of her son, Tyrone Visser, 18, who was admitted to ICU at Groote Schuur Hospital following an altercation with a group of boys, allegedly over a girl.
“I miss him a lot. I have not been able to sleep since Friday when he was taken to hospital. All I want is for him to come home,” she said.
It was peaceful on Friday evening, his aunt recalled, when he was playing soccer outside.
Hessie Deerleng recalls: “I was busy doing my hair in the house and I had told him to watch who was at the door because we sell spices, I needed him to assist customers.
“Next thing, he came to me for the room key and fell into my arms. I asked him what happened and his speech was slurred. He said he fell from a bike. When I wanted to ask whose bike, he passed out. When I lifted his head I saw so much blood and a big knob on his head. I ran upstairs to get a cloth.
“When I came back, he was busy having a fit. I managed to lock my hands into his and I managed to get my toothbrush in his mouth. My 7-year-old daughter then rushed to call the neighbour to help and we got someone in the road with a car to take him to hospital.”
She said the ambulance was not a thought at the time, as her instincts were to help him and get him to hospital as soon as possible.
“On Saturday, I decided to investigate what actually happened because the bike story did not make sense. I went to the corner and asked some of his friends and there's where it came out. While he was playing soccer, the girlfriend of one of his friends came to call him to tell him the friend was being attacked by her other boyfriend and his friends.
“Tyrone then rushed there, thinking he could mediate in the situation because he was friends with both guys,” said Deerleng.
“Unfortunately, he was attacked in the process. They first threw him with a stone in the rib and then when he fell they threw a brick slab on his head.”
The family said they had no idea who the boys were and also did not care to take matters further.
“At this point we just want him to be okay and to learn to stay away from these friends. He used to be naughty but over the last two years, he has been seeing a social worker and he has changed a lot. He became very peaceful. We had been warning him that these friends are no good. And now, since the incident, not one of them have been to our house to check if he is okay.”
The family said they were waiting to find out about the extent of the brain damage but he was conscious and stable.