[imagesource:thepercivallpottorthopaedicclub]

This story of a 40-year-old NHS surgeon who was killed in South Africa on August 3 is gut-wrenching.

Kar Hao Teoh was killed in front of his wife, mother and young son after a day out whale watching in Cape Town. At some point, while driving around that day, the police allegedly directed him towards Nyanga and he was shot dead, his family have claimed.

Speaking exclusively to the BBC, his family claims the police told them to go in the direction of the violent minibus strike action taking place that day.

The family were on a two-week “trip of a lifetime” and had enjoyed a “wonderful” day whale watching in Hermanus and seeing penguins at Betty’s Bay before their beloved son/ husband/ father was shot dead.

“We were on our way back from seeing the whales and were about 30 minutes from our destination when suddenly there was a road closure,” said his mother Ainah, who lives in Singapore, where Mr Teoh grew up. “There was a policeman standing in the centre of the road junction directing the cars. He stopped our car and directed my son to take the left turn and asked him to follow the white car in front of us.”

Sara said: “The police made a point to knock on our window to tell us which way to go. I thought, ‘Oh, he’s a very considerate policeman.'”

To avoid the road closures, they ended up following cars into the township of Nyanga, near Cape Town International Airport, which is the place that gives Cape Town the notorious ‘murder capital’ name.

Image: Family photo

Protest action abounded around them, with burning buses and car tires strewn all over. As they were heading down Ntlangano Crescent, Sara spotted a man approaching their rental car:

“The shooter came out and shot my husband as he was driving,” she said. “There was no confrontation, no provocation – nothing whatsoever. He was driving and he was shot.”

But Mr Teoh did not die immediately. An eyewitness had helped them move to a petrol station, just by a police station where Sara and Ainah saw at least two or three police vehicles and about six different police officers.

The family said the officers asked what had happened but refused to call an ambulance, all the while Mr Teoh was fighting for his life.

“Each one, we pleaded with them,” said Sara. “We said that he is a doctor. He saves lives. Please help him. He’s a good man.

“One even suggested we drive Kar Hao to the nearest hospital ourselves.”

Ainah further claims that the officers just “walked away, and continued chatting amongst themselves”. Sadly, it took an hour for an ambulance to arrive at the scene, by which time Mr Teoh was dead.

Image: Family photo

No empathy was given, and the professional conduct of the police was also thrown out the window. Mr Teoh’s mother even said police insisted they could not take them to safety in a police car.

The family say that are “grateful, incredibly thankful that we met these wonderful ambulance drivers because God knows what would have happened to us if it was not for them”. The paramedics were the ones who took the family to safety in the ambulance and contacted the British Embassy on their behalf.

They’re still trying to get justice for their slain loved one. No arrests have been made and the police are throwing the case around while the family grieve back home in the UK.

Mr Teoh, an orthopaedic surgeon at Princess Alexandra Hospital, in Harlow, Essex, will be sorely missed.

[imagesource:bbc]