“I did not recognize my mother,” says Frans du Toit, a farmer from Petrusburg in the Free State who was first on the scene where his mother, Janetta, 82, and his brother Wimpie, 54, on Friday night on the farm Lovedale attacked.
Frans says Wimpie and his mother were watching television when the power went off. “Wimpie went to the distribution box outside, where they were waiting for him. “They attacked my brother with two iron bars and dragged him home,” says Frans. “It must have been a bloody fight. ”
Frans says his mother heard the clash in the house and tried to pull down the attackers from Wimpie. “My mother was also attacked and beaten horribly over her head. “Her hair looks colored, so red it was from the blood.” According to Frans du Toit, who was first on the scene, there appears to be a bloody fight between the robbers and his brother. The attackers stole a revolver from the safe and pulled out all the closets, but Frans said he couldn’t see what was stolen. “We do not keep valuables in our homes precisely because it is so dangerous.”
He said the robbers tied his mother’s hands, but she was able to unwrap and pressed an emergency button after which the area’s security plan was implemented. Frans, who lives 4 km from his mother and brother, was first on the scene. Du Toit and his brothers, Wimpie and Louw, all farm together and own the Lovedale Farming Trust. He says he heard his brother rattle in the hallway and it looks like he collapsed there. “I believed he was dying. He told me, ‘I’m done.’ ”
Wimpie and Janetta were admitted to the Mediclinic in Bloemfontein and both will have to be operated on because they suffered severe facial fractures. Wimpie and Janetta were transported by ambulance to the Mediclinic in Bloemfontein with serious facial fractures. Du Toit says the support of the community is incredible. Roads were blocked off within minutes, but the attackers, who were allegedly five men, were not arrested yet.
Du Toit says the attackers stole a lot of dry chilli bites his mother made from the kitchen. In the living room lay her knitwear she was still busy with that evening. Du Toit said last weekend there was an attempt to attack him. “They broke open a sliding door, but I heard them and got up. I also have angry dogs and they left again. ” Col. Police spokesman Thandi Mbambo says the attackers stole a .32 revolver and have not yet been arrested.
Oh God have mercy on our farmers