Neighbours tell of ‘hostage drama’ in north
Luckily, it wasn't a farm attack as they feared, as the men turned out to be Hawks officers responding to a hostage situation.
A Honingsnestkrans smallholding couple in the north of Pretoria got the fright of their lives after armed balaclava-clad men stormed their neighbour’s house.
Luckily, it wasn’t a farm attack as they feared, as the men turned out to be Hawks officers responding to a hostage situation.
“It looked like a farm attack. We were fearing for our lives,” said Hannelie Scheepers, a resident and businesswoman in the area.
On Saturday, Scheepers was preparing dinner around 16:40 when she got a huge fright while looking through her kitchen window. She said saw gunmen surrounding her neighbour’s house.
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“They were not wearing uniforms. They had balaclavas over their faces and were armed with big guns.”
The next moment, shots were fired and I heard people screaming.
“When Scheepers looked again, she saw a silhouette of a man pointing ‘with a big firearm’.”
More shots were fired and then it went dead quiet.
“Scheepers and her husband’s elderly parents also live on the property. Her husband Johan, switched off the lights, locked the doors and activated the alarm system while they hid in the house.”
It all played out a mere 40 metres from my kitchen.
Scheepers said she was so frightened that she ‘started to get pins and needles’ in her hands. After a while, Scheepers’ husband noticed police lights at the neighbour’s property and approached police who confirmed that the neighbour was being held hostage.
Provincial police spokesman Colonel Brenda Muridili confirmed a case of kidnapping of a woman was opened at Garsfontein police station.
ALSO READ: TUT students held hostage, robbed at gunpoint in north
“The station mobilised the necessary resources, including national crime intelligence, national organised crime investigation, Gauteng provincial and Garsfontein seasoned detectives, to investigate the kidnapping,” Muridili said.
The kidnapped woman was rescued by police and two suspects were arrested, Muridili said.
“During the arrest, the police found a toy gun,” she said.
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