Morne Herselman said that he and his partner heard screams in the distance whilst lying in bed. The screams became louder until they could hear their front gate being opened.

They yelled at the man through the window, asking him what he was looking for. The man ignored them and ran to the back of their yard.

They could see him heading to a boundary wall and attempting to jump over it, all the while yelling, “I want to live! I want to live!”

Terrified to go out, Mr Herselman said they waited until things calmed down before braving it outside. They could see a blood trail all the way from their front gate, along the paving to the back and against the wall where the man jumped over to an adjacent vacant yard.

“It is clear that the man was bleeding profusely. We tried to shine our flashlight into the yard but could not see or hear him,” Mr Herselman said.

Attempts to get hold of the Hendrina Police were in vain.

Mr Herselman said that he could only manage to reach someone on Wednesday morning when the police changed shift. The person who answered the phone said that she had just come on duty and was not aware of any incidents reported during the night.

A trusted source in Hendrina said that it is common knowledge among role players in the security industry that the Hendrina Police switchboard is not working.

According to the source, the phone lines have been down for longer than a year, after the company that installed the switchboard system closed shop in South Africa, and it was never replaced.

“If you want to get hold of a policeman, you must phone them on their cellphone,” the source said.

• A media enquiry was sent to provincial police spokesperson, Brig. Leonard Hlathi. He was asked to confirm or deny that the Hendrina Police Station landlines have been down for years and was also asked to provide working alternative numbers for the public to reach the station.

He did not reply before deadline.

• A community meeting was set for 17:00 on Wednesday, where one of the points on the agenda would be the struggle to get hold of the police in crisis situations.

The outcome of the meeting was not known before deadline.

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