A woman is in a critical but stable condition after she and her husband were attacked at their home in Mnandi, Centurion, on Monday night.

Jan Muller was bludgeoned and stabbed to death while his wife, Kitty, is in a critical but stable condition after she was stabbed in the chest.

According to family spokesperson Ian Cameron, Kitty is in a critical but stable condition after lengthy surgery at just past 03:00 on Wednesday.

Cameron said that Kitty was stabbed once in the left side of her chest. She lost a substantial amount of blood with quite serious damage internally.

Community Emergency Response Team (Cert-SA) said in a statement that when their medics arrived, “an elderly man was found lying outside showing no signs of life and he was declared dead on the scene”.

“An elderly female was found inside her bedroom with serious injuries to her chest after being stabbed by the assailants.”

The Mullers were close to the community they lived in. Before the couple retired, Jan worked in the construction industry while Kitty worked as a teacher at a school for children with disabilities, said Cameron.

Cameron, from the Action Society civil organisation, said: “This incident was extremely violent. Jan appeared to have been badly bludgeoned before he was stabbed to death.”

“They were outside having a drink after a long day. It is unclear at this point whether Jan was alone in the garden, but two glasses were found outside where Jan was killed.

“It seems that the attackers came from behind, with the first blow being hit over the head before he was bludgeoned and stabbed multiple times,” he said.

Cameron told Pretoria Rekord that some phones were stolen in the attack and it was believed that three or five suspects attacked the couple.

This was not the first time the family had to endure such a brutal attack and death.

In 2012, Jan and Kitty watched helplessly as their daughter, Arina, was shot and killed on June 4.

Jan Muller’s unresponsive body was found just metres away from where Arina was shot and killed a decade ago.

Arina had arrived back from the gym at about 21:00 when two robbers, known in the area as “Laurel and Hardy”, slipped in behind her when she arrived at the farm.

When Arina spotted the robbers, she called for help. Her parents went to investigate after which Arina was shot in the chest. The attackers then fled the scene.

At the time, Jan told reporters that he suspected his daughter’s killers were the same individuals that had attacked him and shot one of his dogs in January of that year.

Cameron said that no arrests had been made following Arina’s death.

He said that the Mullers’ last remaining child was in shock and focusing on his mother’s recovery.

Olievenhoutbosch police spokesperson Johan van Dyk confirmed that no arrests have been made and that leads were being followed up.