Sharon Patterson
On Tuesday, 6 January 2015, popular racing personality Sharon Patterson was shot during an attempted robbery as she was leaving her Randesfontein base.
Tuesday was pay day and Sharon had returned from the bank to make up the staff salaries. The salary packets were taken for distribution by another member of the team, who left the office a few minutes ahead of Sharon.
As she left for the afternoon, Sharon was intercepted by a group of men, who held her at gunpoint and told to hand over the money. “Obviously I didn’t have any money and I panicked!” she said speaking from her hospital bed earlier today. “They got my bag, but in the scuffle my wallet fell out with all my credit cards and a small amount of cash, so in the end they got nothing, other than my office keys a rather nice bag!’
Once the shot went off, security arrived on the scene very quickly. “It all happened about 50m from the security office. The estate security were fantastic. They managed to chase the getaway car and get the registration and apparently the car and owner have been tracked down. I’m just very grateful to be alive – an inch the other way and it could all have been quite different.”
Her arm has been badly fractured and cannot be set immediately, so medical staff have stabilised and cleaned it and will set it in a few days’ time. Sharon is very stoic about it all and says that after initially suffering an allergic reaction to the morphine, she’s doing a lot better now that she’s just on Panado.
They sure don’t make them like they used to!
Wishing you a speedy recovery, Sharon.
