A 76-year-old woman and four workers were attacked by seven armed men on their farm in Hartbeespoort on Monday morning.
The seven attackers arrived on the farm in Rietfontein shortly after seven, overpowered the four workers and tied them up and assaulted them in an outbuilding. When the elderly woman arrived shortly before 08:00 after dropping her grandchildren off at school, the attackers were waiting for her.
According to her daughter who was elsewhere on the farm at the time, the armed men dragged their mother from the car. They threatened her at gunpoint and then tied her up and left her in an outbuilding. She was hit over the head and her arms and legs were bruised during the attack.
According to the domestic worker, she had just arrived at the house after 07:00 when a white bakkie with a canopy pulled into the yard and seven men, six armed with firearms, came into the house. “They grabbed me and took me to the outside building and tied me up. They said they were waiting for the boss to come back,” she told the Kormorant.
One of the workers managed to untie himself and ran to a neighbour for help. They contacted security services and the police. By the time security officers and the police arrived on the scene, the attackers had fled with the workers’ and the woman’s cellphones.
Hartbeespoort Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) treated the victims at the scene. The family does not want to be identified.
Police are currently on the scene. A case of armed house robbery is being investigated.