THINGS went horribly wrong for a gang of thieves who attempted to rob the farm of Kowie Lombard on Sunday morning, March 9.

It was approximately 11:00am, and Mr Lombard was in his workshop, working on his vintage car, when he noticed between eight and twelve heavily armed, masked people approaching the workshop.

Fortunately, he was able to activate the panic button on his cellphone before the assailants reached him, which sent out a signal to surrounding farms and Mr Lombard’s farm manager, Deon de Roubaix.

According to Mr Lombard, his staff were rounded up at gunpoint by the criminals and led outside, where they were instructed to lie down on the floor.

Unbeknown to Mr Lombard and the criminals, one of the other staff members had also managed to alert the authorities of theensuing attack.

The criminals proceeded to manhandle Mr Lombard, and tied his hands and feet with wire.

When he informed them that he had alerted the authorities and that they therefore did not have much time to carry out their robbery, they seemed to become somewhat flustered and continued with a heightened sense of urgency, demanding to know the whereabouts of the safe.

At this point, Mr Lombard informed them that there no money was kept on the premises at any point in time, but that he would take them to the safe.

Due to his hands and feet being bound, the robbers carried him to the office nearest the workshop, and attempted to open the door with keys they had removed from his pocket. When this did not work, they broke the door open with very large boltcutters, according to Mr Lombard.

As he had told them, the safe was empty as it is not common practice for farmers to keep cash on their farms, in light of such events.

By this time, Deon de Roubaix was already on his way and the Hlobane police had been contacted.

Upon his arrival at the farm, which has only one road leading to it, therefore leaving no other way of escape for the robbers, Mr de Roubaix’s vehicle came under fire from one of the robbers, assumedly the lookout who was near the entrance.

Back at the farm, Mr Lombard was surprised to find that the attackers suddenly released him and began to flee the scene, having been alerted of the arrival of the police.

Approximately six of them stole one of the farm workers’ vehicles and drove towards the back of the farm, not realising that they could not escape that way.

Upon reaching the electric fence, they abandoned the vehicle and cut the fence, escaping into a plantation behind the farm.

Two of the other criminals fled the scene in the stolen vehicle with which they had arrived, driving back out the same way they came in.

It was at this point that they encountered Mr de Roubaix, who was on his way in along the same road. When they saw him approaching, the robbers jumped from their vehicle and tried to escape.

Mr de Roubaix managed to bump one of the armed robbers with his vehicle, incapacitating him briefly.

A fight ensued between the two and Mr de Roubaix, who was unarmed, managed to wrestle the assailant to the ground. In the scuffle, the robber’s gun went off, severely wounding the robber, who is currently hospitalised.

Mr Lombard, whose hands were still bound, was still at the farm and unsure of the whereabouts of the robbers at that point in time, managed to find a hiding place in the garden, where he waited until he heard the familiar voice of Mr de Roubaix.

In the vehicle which had been deserted by the thieves behind the farm, Mr Lombard and Mr de Roubaix discovered the camera equipment which had been stolen from the office where the safe was.

This may play a pivotal part in the investigation leading to the arrest of the remaining gang members, one of whom was taken into custody.