A police officer, described as a gentleman who always had a smile, died after being shot in a hijacking in Newlands West.
|||Durban - A police officer, described as a gentleman who always had a smile, died on Thursday after being shot in a hijacking in Newlands West.
Warrant Officer Rylin Moonilall was shot in the stomach as he and his girlfriend of three years, Leona Eserdaw, were going to her home in Berghill Drive.
The couple, both 23, were returning from a shop just after 5pm on Wednesday when they were attacked by six men.
Eserdaw’s sister, Riona Gokul, and her husband, Claude, were at home at the time of the incident.
Gokul said the couple had gone to the shop to buy bread.
“When they came back, I suddenly heard her scream. I went to the front door and saw a man pulling her hair and punching her.”
Gokul pressed the panic button and, as she and Claude were trying to get out of the house to help the two, they heard a shot.
She said the hijackers sped off in Moonilall’s Peugeot 207, car, taking him with them.
“We found Rylin lying on the road. The hijackers had driven a few houses away and just threw him out of the car,” Claude said.
“He was suffering, trying to breathe and his eyes were open. I went and got my car, put Rylin in and drove him to hospital.”
Although doctors worked for hours trying to save Moonilall, his organs eventually failed and he died early on Thursday morning.
“The men tried to push Leona back in the car, but Rylin pushed her out,” said Claude.
“I will never forget Rylin, he saved my sister-in-law’s life.”
Eserdaw and Moonilall had been together for three years and planned to get engaged early next year.
Eserdaw suffered a similar tragedy last year when Mainee Randhin, her grandmother and also her guardian after the death of her mother a few years before, was killed in an armed robbery at Chatsworth Centre.
Moonilall worked as an administrator at the SAPS eManzimtoti forensics laboratory.
He was the only child of Devan Moonilall, also a police officer, based at Verulam SAPS.
Devan said this was no way for an innocent man to lose his life. “We can’t live like this. How many more children must lose their lives before something is done? To lose a child like this after 23 years, it isn’t fair. To be safe in this country, what must we do?”
Close family friend, Sagren Moodley, said he had never known a young man as respectful as Moonilall. “He had such good manners and respected his elders. He and his dad were very close.
“He would drop everything to come help him. Having children, you don’t expect to lose them,” Moodley said.
Police have confirmed they are investigating a case of murder and hijacking.
No arrests have been made.
Although the car has a tracking device, it has not been recovered.
Moonilall’s funeral was expected to take place at the family’s home in Phoenix on Friday.
lauren.anthony@inl.co.za
Daily News