Chad: I could see the blood running

Johannesburg – Singer Chad Saaiman spoke about how he was shot and wounded during a failed hijacking on June 5.

"There was a blinding pain in my body and I could see the blood running from a hole between my ribs. The hijacker stood a metre away from me and pulled the trigger of his battered, black pistol without saying a word."

Since the hijacking, Saaiman is walking around with the bullet under the skin above his left hip. He has to wait for it to move to the surface by itself before it can be removed. Meanwhile he is doing well and surprised his doctors with his speedy recovery.

"I will be examined on Friday again and will then hear when the bullet can be removed," said Saaiman.

'Worst pain ever'

With laboured breathing, he explained how five organs had been hit.

"The bullet hit my stomach, small intestine, colon, diaphragm and liver. I am still breathing with difficulty because the wound damaged my diaphragm and the doctors had to cut through my stomach muscles."

Saaiman stopped his black VW Polo at about 18:30 in front of the house of a friend in Corbett Street, Glenhazel, when three men tried to hijack his car.

"Something about the old, white Toyota Conquest bothered me and I started my car. The guy got out, came to stand next to my door and shot me. It was the worst pain I've ever experienced."

Saaiman raced off around the corner of Corbett Street before getting out and asking for help at the house of Heidi Muller, a psychologist.

Get-well wishes

Muller said they had just gotten home and stood in the garage when Saaiman stumbled from his car.

"He was bleeding badly and I tried to calm him down while pressing a towel on his wound. Unfortunately, incidents of crime have recently increased in this area, especially burglaries and hijackings."

Saaiman underwent an operation the same evening in the Charlotte Maxeke Hospital and had a stomach wound from his chest to below his navel. The open wound was closed up during a second operation, two days after the shooting.

Meanwhile, sympathy and get-well wishes came from across the country. Singers like Danny K and Kurt Darren sent him their best wishes.

Police spokesperson captain Kim Cloete said the hijackers had not yet been apprehended.