Couple tortured in their home
A couple from Riverview Farm, Schagen, were tortured and robbed in their home on Friday night.
According to police spokesman Capt Zandile Gqawa, the incident occurred at around 19:30.
The couple had just returned home after work and opened the kitchen door.
“Three suspects approached them and forced them into the house at gunpoint. The man was struck over his head with the barrel of a handgun. The couple were tied with barbed wire and forced to lie on the kitchen floor, face down.”
She said one of the attackers threatened the man with his firearm and demanded safe keys and money.
“One of the suspects took a kettle, which had cold water in it, and he poured it over the head of the man while he lay bleeding on the floor.” The suspects then took the couple to the bedroom.
The man was dragged out of the room. He saw that one suspect was wearing a balaclava and gloves.
They asked him for a safe and the firearms. They removed the light bulb in the bedroom so he could not see what they looked like. The men then searched the house.
The robbers took their wallets, cellphones, cameras, a Sansui LED TV, video machine, leather jacket, sound system and 12 paintings. Two of paintings were valued at R20 000 each by well-known painter, Frans Claerhout. They wrapped all the stolen items in a duvet.
They searched the house again and then demanded the keys to the house. Before fleeing the scene, they locked the couple inside the house.
“The man freed himself and alerted his father, who was living in another house about 100 metres away. Their car keys, house keys and a Siemens phone were recovered under a kitchen window,”
Gqawa said.
She said police had not made any arrests as yet and were investigating the matter.
