Arrests expected after attack on elderly Mbombela citizen

While the physical injuries caused during the attack of an elderly woman and her daughter at their Uitkyk home last Monday, August 7, are healing, the mental scars will take longer.

Adele Kimble (75), who lives with her daughter Diann, had been in her room that Monday evening while Diann was outside with the dogs. Kimble previously told Lowvelder she thought she had heard Diann calling for her, and walked to the front door, only to be grabbed by two men. She said they shoved her face to the floor, but she remembers little else. She sustained injuries to her hand and her face, and one of her bottom teeth was knocked out.

Diann was also accosted by the men following the attack on her mother. She was completely unaware of what had transpired in the house. “I heard something on the roof, and the next moment, a man grabbed me and handed me to another. They held me down outside.” This seemed to have left a bruise on her cheek.

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Though she cannot recall much, she knows for a fact there were three suspects. They both told Lowvelder their cellphones were stolen, but that they were unsure if anything else was taken. Not much was said to the victims, except the suspects ordering Adele not to go outside.

The attack was reported to a local security WhatsApp group by the Kimbles’ neighbour, Marie Oosthuizen, who was alerted to the incident when one of her employees on her smallholding saw a distressed Diann outside and reported it to her. She said Diann came to her property and told her what had happened.

ACS Spartan’s Theo Laas immediately dispatched a response vehicle to the scene, which arrived within minutes. Laas also called former police officer Michael Horn, who heads K9 DTC Security and Training, to assist in tracking the suspects, but they were long gone.

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Laas said it appears they had entered the property by cutting the fence on the side, and that they had escaped the same way.

Adele’s other daughter, Pam, who visits her mother and sister on weekends, said the physical injuries are healing, but that the trauma left after the incident will take longer. It is understood that Adele and Diann will be seeing a counsellor.

Nelspruit Police Station’s spokesperson, Constable Bongani Mokoena, said officers were investigating the case and looking for the three suspects. He said arrests in the matter were imminent.