Ackermann reveals gun-heist flashbacks
Gloucester player tells Ben Coles of terrifying hold-up on a recent trip home to South Africa
Ruan Ackermann’s return to South Africa at the end of last month, coming off a long block of matches for Gloucester, was supposed to be a spell of quality time with his family and friends. Instead, he was left fearing for his life. Ackermann, his brother, Tiaan, and a friend had returned from a lunch celebrating Tiaan’s birthday, when they were robbed at gunpoint in their car outside a hotel in Pretoria.
“I felt someone with a gun coming into the car, pointing the gun against my head and telling me to turn off the car,” Ackermann says. “I turned to my left and my brother had a gun against his head too, they were demanding some stuff from him.
“And then my friend behind me, I can’t remember what he was saying, everything sounded like mumbling at the time. He also had a gun against his head. They had three guys and a getaway driver.”
Phones, ipads, headphones, clothes, boots, watches, visas, the money in his wallet were all taken. Not that any of it mattered. Ackermann and the other two men in the car were fortunate to escape with their lives.
“All that went through my head was take everything, whatever you want, just do not hurt my friend, do not shoot my brother, [do not] shoot us. If you want my car, take it. Just don’t take our lives,” he says.
“You just sit there. Whatever they demand, they take. It was 90 seconds of them checking through the car. They didn’t take the car but they took everything else, including visas and permits to get back into the UK, which I needed to get back into the country for training.”
Ackermann, the son of Gloucester head coach Johan, did get back into the UK after the expensive process of receiving a short-term visa and buying new flights, and played against Exeter in the Gallagher Premiership the following Friday. But the longterm effects of that chilling experience, after the euphoria of being safe had worn off, were only beginning to develop.
“What needed to be a week off, chilling and catching up with friends and family turned into quite a scary, dramatic, eyeopening moment of realising how quickly your life can be taken from you,” Ackermann says.
“Afterwards you are so grateful that you are safe. It is only small life stuff – phones, watches, ipads – that has been taken from you. But after I got back to the UK, having settled back in at Gloucester, back into training and the routine, I started getting flashbacks when I was sleeping about what could have happened, what could I have done, what would have happened if I was shot or they shot my brother. Stuff playing through in your head. I asked my dad if I should speak to someone and he said it was up to me.”
The 24-year-old would find himself stopping at traffic lights, or “robots” as they are referred to in South Africa, and feeling anxious and on edge.
“That’s probably the biggest shock. Coming back to England, where you know everything is safe. You are checking, waiting, won’t switch off the car.
“When I came back here it was still triggering me. I might be at a robot and listening to music but I’m still alert, and my girlfriend will tell me, ‘Relax, you’re in England now’.”
Three years of living in the West Country had dulled his awareness of that sort of threat when he was back in Pretoria. “I was angry at myself. When I lived in South Africa, there was a common thing of checking your surroundings, you were always alert, noting the cars behind you,” Ackermann says, slapping the table to emphasise his point.
Ackermann has worked with Pete Wynter, part of Gloucester’s coaching staff who focuses on psychology, about how to move on from his ordeal.
“Anything from this angle [gesturing over his right shoulder] gives me a bit of a fright because that was the angle the gun came from. Other than that, I am pretty settled now.”
In the week where Gloucester are doing superb work in promoting their #Bekind campaign on mental health, with donations from tickets bought for tomorrow’s game against Sale going to the Samaritans, it is hugely encouraging to hear Ackermann discuss the outpouring of support he has received from his team-mates.
“I had a lot of messages afterwards saying they were sorry to hear what had happened and to get back to Gloucester safely and soon. Those helped a lot, to have that backing from the guys that you go out and play with every week,” Ackermann says.