WHAT began as a fun afternoon out to enjoy the last weekend of the holidays with her children, turned into a nightmare for a Berea mother on Sunday night after she, together with her three children, had to fight to survive a terrifying home invasion.
Zaineb Moolla was shot at close range by her attackers but survived the brutal attack along with her three children who are all nursing injuries and the recurring emotional scars.
Speaking to Berea Mail, from her bedroom in her home where she is recovering, after a day in hospital, the holistic massage therapist and Chakra healer recalled the terrifying ordeal. “I was praying at the time. Thank God I didn’t have any hate in my heart, I’m a healer and lead a very holistic and spiritual life and usually foresee if something is not okay,” she said.
Dressed in her burka for evening prayers, Moolla felt something was amiss and had just finished her prayers when she heard her 16-year-old son shout that someone had come into their property and was at the gate. “It was about 7.30pm. I saw this man at the gate and it felt like deja vu. I knew they were in the front of the house and had broken the lock on the door where my son’s room is. My son, who does judo, started defending himself and us, and tried to fight the robbers off. I could feel he was protected by God, so I tried to close the front door to stop them from coming into the main section of the house. I tried to compose myself and took a deep breath and screamed for my daughters to phone the police.”
Moolla said she could hear the men hitting her son as he tried to fight back on the other side of the door, but she held the door shut with such a force, she believed it was pure adrenaline. “The one attacker got really upset when he couldn’t push open the door. He squeezed his hand through the small space and hit me on my head with the butt of the gun but I continued to hold the door shut because my two daughters were inside. Even when the man fired a warning shot into the ground, it didn’t deter me. When he fired a second shot at the door hinge I told my daughter to run and get out gun and shoot him.”
The attacker fired the gun at Moolla, shooting her in the stomach. The shocked mother told her attacker: “You shot me, you shot me!” She saw a look of fear in her attacker’s eyes and started to pray. “When the man held the gun to my son’s head I let the door go and he rushed into the house, my daughter shot him and everything was a blur I saw my son fall on the floor and he was being kicked. The man pushed us into my room and
remember gently touching him which stopped in his tracks. Something scared him from my touch or in the room because he grabbed my handbag and ran out.”
Moolla said their survival could only be attributed to God’s grace and protection. “It is a miracle. Even the doctors found it miraculous that I was shot in the stomach at such close range and the bullet exited a millimeter from penetrating my heart. I had my burka on and feel it and my prayers were my shield. It was a scary situation and a real nightmare but I never showed them fear. My trust was in God. I was only concerned about my children.
“My son is really brave and courageous to have defended his sisters and I the way he did. They were brutal. They stabbed and punched him and hit him in the head with the butt of a gun, yet he continued to fight back. “He has pins and plates in his head and cannot go back to school for at least a month until he recovers from his head injuries. What is sad is that were were all having such fun earlier the day at Wilson’s Wharf, eating out, taking photos, only hours before this nightmare. We had come home earlier because my son wasn’t feeling well and was actually lying down when the men attacked us,” she said.
The teenager said he wanted to ensure his mum and sisters had enough time to call the police and get help but knew he was in trouble when the men kept hitting him on the head with the butt of a gun. “Once I was inside the main part of the house I went to get the display Samurai sword but that is when my sister managed to shoot the guy. They forced us into the room and I saw the guy who had been shot, kick my sister in the head before he grabbed a handbag and left. I was feeling very dizzy, had a lot of blood pouring down my face and my shirt was messed.
Moolla’s daughter also tried to defend her family when she realised what was happening. She had initially rushed to get the Samurai sword but after hearing the second gunshot, she ran to get her father’s firearm. “I tried to fire but nothing happened so I cocked the firearm, took off the safety and shot carefully, making sure not to hit my mum. I shot him but he came after me and tried to get the gun, but it fell on the floor. He pushed me into my mum’s room with them. The man held his stomach were she had shot him and leaned on a cupboard and told his accomplices he had been shot.
The young woman said she screamed and screamed despite the attacker telling her to ‘shut up.’ “I couldn’t stop screaming. He finally pushed me onto the floor and kicked me in the face. I thought I was going to die and just said ‘God is Great’, but he turned around and left with my mother’s bag.
Moolla’s younger daughter locked herself in her bedroom and was calling the police while the rest of the family was under attack. The traumatised family say the whole incident took between five and ten minutes.
Moola said she was grateful that their lives were spared as the ordeal could have been worse. “We don’t have material possessions and lead a simple life so I don’t understand why we were targeted. We are grateful to the Berea police and ambulance services for their quick response. Especially the police for their sincere support as well as the community and our neighbours for being with us throughout the ordeal. We want to see justice done and hope these people are caught. One of them has sustained a gunshot wound so we really hope to see some arrests.”
The terrifying attack has prompted the family to move from their home where they have lived for 15 years.
Provincial spokesperson, Lieutenant Nqobile Gwala, confirmed a house robbery case had been opened at Berea police station. No arrests have been made at this stage of investigations.
