Evil can exploit the smallest window for a split second shattering of inner sanctuary.
Enjoying an afternoon in front of the television, 75-year-old Danie Schoeman was alerted to the presence of men outside his front gate. The men informed Danie that they were municipal employees inspecting electrical connections, and the official-looking men were welcomed inside. The next few minutes would leave a couple traumatised by these October 5 events.
Read initial article here: Man taken to hospital after being assaulted in his Witpoortjie home
Danie’s wife, Antonette, sat in their bedroom reading when she heard Danie shouting her name. The men he had just let into his home had begun attacking him and he was now focused on stopping their progress through the house. Unaware that men had entered her home, Antonette came out of her bedroom, catching a glimpse of one of the intruders before instinctively locking herself behind the bedroom door.
Despite putting up a fight, the elderly gentleman, who has survived three heart attacks and is due for a new hip, was overcome by the three violent intruders. They punched, kicked, and barbarically stomped on Danie’s chest, even tying a scarf tightly around the helpless septuagenarian’s neck. All the while, his panicked wife sat barricaded in their locked en suite bathroom.
Antonette recalls how the ordeal lasted less than 15 minutes, the time it took the three unwanted guests to remove the valuables from around the house. After the men had fled, a beaten Danie crawled to his bedroom door where he was able to speak to his wife on the other side to inform her that the men were gone. Upon opening the door, Antoinette was greeted with the horrific sight of blood strewn across the entire passage and the scarf still tightly wound around her husband’s neck.
Antonette called her son who lives nearby and Danie was taken by ambulance to Life Flora Hospital where he is currently recovering. He has since undergone several scans but is awake and will hopefully be home soon. “Thank you to everyone for their support; so many people have called to check on us and we really appreciate their love and concern. Also, thanks to the security companies, the ambulance crew and the staff at Life Flora who are looking after him,” said Antoinette.
The family have lived in their Drakenstein Street home for 49 years, almost all of Danie and Antoinette’s 53-year marriage. “People must be vigilant. We don’t want to live behind gates and locked doors, but these things happen so quickly,” said Antonette
Despite the trauma, the lifelong Witpoortjie resident refuses to be shaken, saying, “We are not going anywhere”.
