Pretoria - Father Louis Blondel, 70, a French priest of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, was shot dead in his room on Monday at about 02:00 when child robbers gained access to the rectory.
Blondel is the fourth Catholic priest to be murdered in South Africa this year.
He was shot through his left shoulder, with the bullet exiting his back. The children had opened the door for the robber.
Blondel had been a member of the Missionaries of Africa, whose stated mission is serving the people of Africa. He's been in South Africa since 1987 and has lived in Diepsloot since August last year.
Before moving there, he worked in Tanzania, Soweto and Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria. Father Guido Bourgeois, 70, who saw Blondel being shot, said three teenagers entered the house through a window at approximately 02:00.
"They came into my room and woke me. I started to scream but they told me to 'shut up'. One of them was pointing something in my direction, but I couldn't see if it was a firearm," said Bourgeois.
Looked for money
The children asked for money, upon which he gave them a R50 note he had in his wallet.
"One of them removed a painting from the wall to see if there's a safe behind it. The other opened cupboards and said they're looking for money."
According to Bourgeois, the teenagers asked for keys to the house. They followed him to the front door, where they forced him to unlock it.
"When I unlocked the door, a big, tall man of about 35 years was standing in front of me."
Bourgeois said the robbers then forced him back into the house and wanted to know how many people there were in the house. He said there were three.
The other resident is a man who had been staying there for a few months, since he had no other place to stay.
'What's going on?'
The robbers took Bourgeois to Blondel's room.
"Suddenly Louis opened his door and yelled 'What's going on', and then they shot him.
"I ran to the kitchen and pushed the fridge against the kitchen door. Then I went to the window and screamed for help."
Within two minutes, between 30 and 40 people had rushed to the house to help.
The robbers shot at them as well, before fleeing.
Bed covered with blood
"Somebody called out to me, 'Father, you can come out, they're gone.' I ran to Louis immediately and found him lying face-down on his bed.
"The whole bed was covered with blood and there was a hole in his back where the bullet had come out."
Bourgeois, who's been hijacked five times in Orange Farm, said "one gets used to this kind of evil".
He said he will never leave the country.
"I've learned to live with death," said the Canadian, who's been living in South Africa since 1980.
"What must happen, will happen. The Lord did only good, and he was murdered," said Bourgeois.
