Charles Baty, 72, injured in Witrivier attack

 

Charles Baty plays the bagpipes in the well-known Stevenson Hamilton Pipe Band in the Lowveld: he was attacked on June 18 2010 in his home – and now is fighting for his life in hospital with serious hatchet-injuries to the head:

2010-06-18 Buks Viljoen of Beeld newspaper reports that 72-year-old bagpipe enthusiast Charles Baty – who was all set to emigrate to join his family in the USA – sustained serious head-injuries in a hatchet-attack and reportedly in serious condition in hospital.

  Baty, left,  plays the bagpipes in the well-known Scottish orchestra in the Lowveld, the Stevenson Hamilton Pipe Band (picture from their Facebook page).

The old man was found in serious condition by a friend who stopped in for a  visit at 4pm at his Magalies Street home. The friend was alerted that something was wrong when he saw the backdoor and security gates wide-open, said SAPS colonel Erhard Ströh, chief of the local police.  The friend found Batty lying in a puddle of blood in his home’s hallway – unconscious. He also had ‘serious scratch-marks to his head’.

The last time Mr Baty was seen was when he was at a church in town at around 1pm. Nelspruit medi-clinic spokeswoman Ms. Robyn Baard, said he was in ‘a very serious condition. Brain-scans were carried out on him and at the time of going to press a local neurosurgeon was still attending to him”.

Baty’s children reportedly already moved to the USA and he was planning to emigrate soon to join them, friends said.

Colonel Ströh said police were unable to establish whether anything was missing from the old man’s house. http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Bejaarde-tuis-met-byl-aangeval-20100618 http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=47372797522#!/group.php?gid=47372797522

 

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