A 61-year-old woman is on a ventilator, and her 65-year-old husband is in serious condition after they were violently attacked in their house in Brits on Friday.

The couple was cruelly assaulted and the woman was strangled in their home in Schutte Street. Both sustained severe head injuries and the woman is in an intensive care unit on a ventilator.

According to local police spokesperson Colonel Adele Myburgh, three armed men entered the couple’s property at 10:00.

“One of the female workers on the property was outside and saw the men enter the property. She screamed and ran to the house. They caught up with her in the house and overpowered her, along with another two workers. They were tied up and forced to lie on their stomachs,” said Myburgh.

“The robbers went upstairs to the top storey of the house and overpowered the couple in bed. They had returned home from the Cape province in the early morning hours and were still asleep. They were severely beaten and pushed around and the man was hit over the head with a firearm. Due to their serious injuries and trauma, police have not yet been able to establish what the robbers took from the house,” Myburgh said.

Brits police are investigating a house robbery and no arrests have been made yet.