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Heroic father killed after saving the lives of his family and friends

Joanne and Mark Fagan Image: Supplied by Rowan Philp
Joanne and Mark Fagan Image: Supplied by Rowan Philp

As Joanne Fagan desperately tried to retrieve the firearm from the family’s safe she heard two gun shots.

One was intended for their 14-year-old daughter‚ the other for her husband Mark. Her daughter survived but when Joanne rolled her husband over‚ blood flowed from his chest. Mark‚ affectionately known as Farmer Mark‚ had died a hero‚ said Joanne.

On Friday their smallholding near Philadelphia in Cape Town was a scene of celebrations. It was their daughter’s friend’s birthday and the Fagans hosted the party. When Joanne‚ 51‚ and Mark‚ 46‚ went to bed the girls were still up. The couple awoke to the screams of the children. A group of men had broken into the house.

“It could have been worse‚ but it just so happens that my daughter and her one friend went to our braai room [on the porch] outside the house‚” Fagan said.

 “There they were attacked by two men while another two stormed the house and grabbed some of the other girls.

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“My husband and I came running out of room when we heard the screams and he just started punching [the men] and getting them off the girls. He shoved them up the passage while I was getting our gun out of the safe.”

Fagan said she then heard two gun shots and came outside to find her husband lying face down on the porch.

 “I didn’t think he was fatally shot because he looked perfect. His shirt was white and there was no exit wound and no blood. But as I rolled him over‚ then I saw there was blood coming out of his [chest].”

Mark had been shot once in the heart and his attackers then all fled on foot. The other shot had been directed at his daughter‚ who was trying to protect her friend. Fortunately it missed.

Police spokesman FC van Wyk said that Mark died shortly afterwards at a “nearby” hospital as a result of his injuries. The incident took place just after midnight.

“A murder case [is] registered for investigation‚” he said.

Fagan believed the men had been staking out the house and had entered it earlier‚ after they found an empty bottle of rum taken from their bar in nearby bushes the following day.

“We are getting the word out and putting out a reward of some kind so that they can catch these guys and they don’t take someone else’s life‚” said Fagan.

“I feel like a robot. I’m dressed but I don’t even know how I got dressed. I’m a little bit numb.”

 Fagan said her husband‚ who was an avid animal lover and ran a number of petting zoos throughout Cape Town‚ saved the lives of the seven girls and two women‚ including her and their daughter‚ who were there at the time.

 

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