Residents of Hout Bay have been left in shock after 50-year-old Richard Beki was stabbed to death on Friday March 22.
Mr Beki, who worked for home development company, TeamWorks, was allegedly stabbed to death by a taxi driver outside the entrance of Imizamo Yethu, on the corner of Mandela and Main Road, at 7:45am.
Hout Bay police spokeswoman Warrant Officer Tanya Lesch said both men had got out of their vehicles and confronted each other.
Mr Beki was taken to the Hout Bay fire station and succumbed to his injuries.
His devastated employer, Steve Moreton, who informally adopted Mr Beki as his own son, believes he just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
“I literally spoke to him 10 minutes before it all took place. There’s been an ongoing altercation between him and the taxi driver. It culminated on Friday with the guy cutting him off, head to head, at the circle outside IY,” said Mr Moreton.
Mr Beki’s family and the Moretons are grief-stricken and are still struggling to accept what happened.
“Whatever the basis of the government was, it didn’t warrant a guy stabbing him. The point being, Richard was unarmed,” Mr Moreton told Sentinel News.
“He sustained injuries to his neck, arm and upper body. A knife was handed in as evidence,” said Warrant Officer Lesch.
Mr Beki worked for Mr Moreton for 38 years and they built over 400 houses together.
“He was self-taught on site and not formally qualified. He came to me when he was 14-years-old and he became a part of our family. Two of his eight children, twin boys, currently work at TeamWorks.”
Ian Moreton, Steve’s son, who grew up with Mr Beki, commended the paramedics and firefighters who were on scene.
“They did everything they could o save him, but the blood loss was terrific. They tried for 40 minutes to keep him alive.”
A 40-year-old man handed himself over to Hout Bay SAPS and appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Monday March 25 on a charge of murder.
Mr Beki has been described as a saint, not only by his colleagues and family, but also by many residents in Hout Bay.
“He was an absolute pleasure to work with and during the Avignon build, if I’d forgotten my ‘site’ shoes he always held my hand as I walked the plank,” said realtor Ingred Blicher Hansen.  Â
