Popular barber killed
OWNTOWN Pietermaritzburg business owners are reeling in shock after the senseless murder of well-known barber Poobie Chetty.
Chetty, 60, of Daffodil Road, Mountain View, was stabbed to death in his shop last Wednesday, during a robbery.
Policemen found his body in a pool of blood with several fatal wounds to the left side of his chest.
Several items had been stolen from his store.
Neville Camp, a longtime customer and friend of Chetty’s, spoke to POST after placing a floral arrangement outside Chetty’s Tip Top Salon.
“I’ve been having my hair cut here for 20 years and what has happened is sad and devastating,” he said.
He also reflected on the last time he saw Chetty.
“Two weeks ago I had my hair cut by him. My parting words to him were, ‘See you in a few weeks.’ He laughed and said ‘See you next year.’ Little did I know that would be the last time I saw him.”
A man, who asked not to be named, said he had arrived on the scene minutes before the police.
“It was awful. We were all standing there and there was nothing we could do as it was already too late. There was a lot of blood and the crime was evidently quite violent. We waited for the police to arrive. We all knew him and wanted to help as much as we could,” he said. A shopowner who operates close to Chetty’s barber shop described the murder as barbaric.
“He has been in the area for close to 30 years. His father was a barber, too. It is heartbreaking that his life had to end this way. He was a decent man who kept to himself,” he said.
Shop
Another business owner expressed how he suspected that the layout of Chetty’s shop made him susceptible to this crime.
“His shop is divided into different compartments that are fairly closed off. There are other tenants who operate their businesses in the front part, so to get to him you have to walk through the shop.
“Whoever killed him knew this and could’ve walked in and pretended to be a customer. Sadly, we could not hear anything because of this,” he said. Other businessmen, who also did not want to be named, said crime in downtown Pietermaritzburg had recently surged. They attributed this to the increased number of vagrants in the city centre following the closure of the eMatsheni Beer Hall.
“These vagrants and whoonga smokers have been living at and around the beer hall. Now that it has been demolished, they have nowhere to go and are now preying on citycentre businesses,” said a businessman.
He said there had also been an increase in the number of beggars.
“This can only bode badly for our businesses. The few people that do come into the city centre now will really be threatened. How are we going to survive if people stop coming into town?”
Police spokesman Sergeant Mthokozisi Ngobese said while no arrests had been made they were aware of the increase in petty crime in the city.
“We are investigating a case of armed robbery and murder. We are looking at ways of policing the increase in crime in the city centre,” he said.
Chetty was cremated on March 2. His family said they were “too devastated and upset” to comment.