/ 3 January 2008

Well-known bird expert murdered in Jo’burg

Well-known KwaZulu-Natal birder Robin Guy (75) was shot and killed during an attempted robbery in Bryanston, Johannesburg, on Wednesday night.

He and his wife, from Underberg, had been in Johannesburg on a festive-season visit when two robbers disturbed a dinner on the verandah of his brother-in-law’s home, Guy’s journalist son, Duncan, said on Thursday.

A shot went off and he died instantly.

Sandton police, a private security company and trauma counsellors attended the scene.

Police spokesperson Captain Bhekizizwe Mavundla said the two men, one armed with a handgun, entered the property by jumping the fence, approached the family and — ”without saying a word” — shot Guy in the upper body.

The pair then went into the kitchen where the men’s wives were washing the dishes and took the house keys from the handbag of the woman who lived in the house.

They then dropped the bag and fled the scene.

No arrests had been made and police appealed to anyone with information to contact Crimestop on 086 001 0111.

Guy was also the father of award-winning environmental filmmaker Donald Guy and he leaves his wife, Bella, a daughter, Jane, another son, Robert, and six grandchildren.

Guy, who turned 75 on Family Day, ran a birding safari tour company based in Underberg, specialising in the birdlife of Sani Pass and Lesotho

He had recently sold the company to retired University of KwaZulu-Natal zoology Professor Steven Piper.

However, he and his wife remained partly involved in the business.

A geologist by profession, Guy had been a game ranger at the Natal Parks Board and a prolific beekeeper in Empangeni before taking up farming in the Drakensberg.

He was passionate about the history and natural history of the southern Drakensberg.

Birdlife South Africa deputy chairperson Geoff Lockwood said: ”It’s a very sad day that this could happen.”

Lockwood said he had been on several trips up Sani Pass with Guy.

”A trip up [Sani Pass] with him was an absolute delight. His breadth of knowledge was unbelievable,” said Lockwood. — Sapa