Cyclist after attack: 'I was close to dying that day'

Cyclist Jandre du Raan is still processing “how close” he was to dying on January 13 2019.

“It’s still a big shock. It’s as if it is not a reality what happened. I don’t think it has sunk in yet how close I was to dying that day.”

A group assaulted Du Raan and fellow cyclist Brendon Jacobs with sticks and stones on the road from the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve to Stellenbosch on Sunday morning.

Jacobs shared a video on Facebook, which shows a part of the incident.

Du Raan said: “The video shows how close it [the car] was to us, but it’s a different perspective when you were standing there and seeing this car is racing towards you.”

Du Raan hit a pothole and veered to the shoulder of the road, where he inspected his bicycle.

Jacobs wrote on Facebook that a blue Toyota started hooting at them about “30 seconds” later and “moved in very, very close to us with intent to knock us off the bikes”.

Du Raan said they were frightened and shouted at the car.

“He showed something through the car [window] and pulled onto the side of the road. When we came up beside him, he started making a U-turn to try and knock me off my bike.”

This is where the video Jacobs shared starts. In it, the car makes another U-turn and races towards Du Raan.

The car missed them, drove past, stopped, the driver jumped out, picked up a stick and beat them.

Du Raan said: “He was swearing at us, but after all those shots to the head I can’t tell you what he said.”

Next, another car stopped. Three men and two women jumped out and joined in beating the cyclists.

“One of the people hit me with a rock against the head… I can’t tell you if it was five seconds or five hours. At that moment it felt like an eternity,” Du Raan said.

Jacobs said: “I got a blow on my back from the stick by the man with the blue car.”

The suspects stole nothing.

The cyclists first considered cycling to the Helshoogte Pass, before going to Jonkershoek instead.

“We don’t cycle Helshoogte if we are not in a large group... because it’s too dangerous there.”

TimesLIVE contacted the police for comment without success. Police spokesperson Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana told EWN: “Stellenbosch police are investigating cases of reckless and negligent driving, as well as assault. No one has been arrested so far.”