Police have launched a manhunt for a group of violent criminals who attacked an elderly man on his smallholding outside Carletonville.
The 80-year-old, who stays at the De Pan smallholdings, went to lie down at approximately 21:30 on March 30. He was woken up by a noise at about 22:30 and went to investigate.
He was suddenly ambushed by two unknown men, who started to attack him with a metal object.
They tied the pensioner’s hands and feet with shoelaces and dragged him to his bedroom.
Even though the pensioner was too old to give resistance, one of the heartless thugs stood on his neck as he lay on the ground, while the other continued to ransack the house. They also opened the safe and took various firearms.
They loaded the firearms as well as a variety of electrical equipment into the elderly man’s blue VW Jetta. They sped off, leaving the man tied up inside his bedroom.
Members of the police in Khutsong’s visible policing unit spotted the Jetta driving near the police station a short while later. Although they did not know about the attack on the smallholding, the vehicle looked suspicious, and they gestured to the driver to pull over.
The two men inside jumped out while the car was still moving and ran away. The driverless Jetta came to a standstill in a ditch.
The police members searched the car and saw the stolen firearms and equipment inside. They traced the Jetta’s registration number and found that it belonged to the elderly victim. The police in Khutsong contacted their colleagues in Carletonville, under whose jurisdiction the De Pan smallholdings fall.
Members of the police in Carletonville drove to the elderly man’s smallholding. They immediately saw an open door and window and heard the elderly man calling for help from his bedroom.
They called for an ambulance and, although the pensioner at first did not want to leave his animals alone, he eventually acknowledged that he needed medical help and was taken to Fountain Private Hospital.
A senior police officer had to track down the number of one of his daughters, who stays in Muldersdrift, via their businesses on the internet, as all the numbers of the pensioner’s family had been stored on his phone, which was stolen. By printing time, the robbers had still not been arrested. Anyone with information on their whereabouts can call Colonel Wessel Prinsloo on 082 463 0236.