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Farm attack: ‘How sick are these men?’

“Please come and help if you can. We need as much help as possible to search the road from Roossenekal to Lydenburg for ‘tannie Moeka’.”

August 27, 2018

Jana Boshoff 3 minutes read

One of the farm attack victims in the arms of a paramedic. His name is Angel.

Another day, another attack. An eerie voice note asking for help.

Two elderly ladies were overpowered when they arrived home near Roossenekal on Friday afternoon.
They were tortured for hours, beaten with sjamboks. All the while their two attackers wanted to know “Where is the money?”

Also read: Plaasaanval – Vroue gemartel, een steeds vermis

When darkness fell, the two women (one 70 years old) were loaded into their own car, one on the back seat, one in the boot. They were wrapped in sheets with pillowcases pulled over their heads.

The one victim later told how she was convinced her friend was dead.

On the way to Lydenburg the attackers took the first victim and swung her of a steep hill at the side of the road, like a piece of garbage.

She managed to hold onto tall grass and shrubbery to stop her from tumbling further downhill.

Also read: VIDEO: Beide plaasaanval slagoffers nou in hospitaal

The second victim was dropped of in the same fashion a couple of kilometers further.

The car was spotted by police in Lydenburg. During a shootout, one suspect was fatally wounded. Another disappeared into the darkness. Two prostitutes were left behind with the car.

Also read: Opvolg: Plaasaanval – vermisde vrou lewend gevind

The first victim managed to reach for help and was taken to hospital by ambulance, the search for the second victim continued. Everybody helped. There were policemen, farmers, local residents.
Everyone feared for the worst.

It took me back to February 2017 in an instant. Sue Howarth and Robert Lynn suffered the same fate. They were also attacked in their home, near Dullstroom. They were also tortured. They were also dumped next to the road, like an empty chips packet, with no value.

Sue Howarth and her husband, Robert Lynn, were also brutally attacked and tortured.

Also read: (Update): “Don’t be afraid my darling…” – The horror of a farm attack

Both were admitted into the same hospital the Roossenekal victim was taken to: Life Midmed. Sue never made it out alive.

Then came the good news. The second victim was found, alive. She was in a bad state, cold and beaten up, but alive. She told her rescuers how she played dead. When they dumped her next to the road, she hid, too terrified to look for help in fear of running into her attackers again.

When the sun rose, cloudy conditions made her disoriented. Two policemen eventually found her next to the road.

She was airlifted from the scene where the two policemen found her, to Middelburg.

Also read: Opvolg: Plaasaanval – Vroue met sambokke geslaan

“How sick are these men?” one of the people involved with the search asked me afterwards. He was referring to the two men, who tortured the two elderly women for hours, left them for dead next to the road and then picked up two prostitutes.

“In what type of mind does torturing someone make you think of sex?” he asks, not expecting me to answer.

In Middelburg, as the helicopter lands, a touching scene greets us. The frail body of an old lady, protectively encircled by the strong black arms of a paramedic aptly named Angel, as he carries her from the helicopter. She clings to him as if he is her lifesaving buoy in a stormy sea.