17:22
MBOMBELA – Two men and a woman have been arrested today near Krugersdorp for the brutal murder of Hetta Potgieter (85). According to police spokesman Lt Col Erhard Stroh, this happened after a week long intensive investigation. “We had discovered that the three, prior to going to Macadamia Care Centre, had attempted to rob other retirement villages in the city but had failed. They were opportunists.”
Bossies Community Justice’s Albert Gryvenstein said they had assisted the police in the investigation. ” The police’s sterling work has to be congratulated in capturing the suspects.”
Albert said this was a stern warning to criminals, “They must not come to our city and cause trouble. We will hunt them and we will find them.”
Stroh concluded that the three would be appearing in the Nelspruit Magistrate Court on Monday.
12:00
MBOMBELA – Relatives of a number of residents have told Lowvelder that they are planning to move them out of the care centre.
Potgieter’s granddaughter, Riëtte Mostert, told the newspaper that she was discovered on the bathroom floor with her hands tied behind her back and what looked like a sanitary towel over her mouth on Monday morning.
Two families shared their concerns for their loved ones living at the centre with the newspaper on condition of anonymity, for fear of victimisation.
“There is no access control,” one said. “If you press the button at the gate they just let you in without asking you who you are. At the exit a sensor opens the gate when a vehicle pulls up.”
Both families confirmed that residents are fitted with panic buttons to call staff and confirmed that staff physically checked up on residents each evening.
Police spokesman, Lt Col Erhard Stroh, confirmed that it was alleged that nobody checked up on Potgieter since Sunday morning.
Potgieter’s family expressed concern that she could have still been alive after the attack and so died due to not being found sooner.
One woman told Lowvelder that her father spoke to Potgieter on Sunday morning and later noticed that she did not arrive for lunch, something she usually did.
Another said that her mother had passed Potgieter’s flat at around 13:00 and heard voices inside. She thought it was family members who had come to fetch her to go visit her son-in-law in hospital.
ACS security owner, Johan Kriel, said they have since been approached by the centre to upgrade their security.
“We have been doing the security for the Macadamia Village side which is across from the centre. Now we will be taking over their security as well,” said Kriel.
The Macadamia Care Centre board released a statement on Monday, but refused to comment on allegations regarding the lack of security measures or that none of their staff had checked up on Potgieter.
Police are investigating a case of murder and house robbery.
A memorial service will be held for Potgieter at Church Unlimited at 11:00 tomorrow.
Barbara Holtmann, an expert in complex systems design, analysis and decision making, said that the elderly were generally more fearful than younger people.
“This is for obvious reasons. They have less resources with which to protect themselves and usually are less resilient to the impact of all sorts of things.”
She said this was part of the motivation to have them live together in retirement villages and complexes, where they could receive collective care and support.
“However, nowhere provides total protection. Even in frail care units, older people fall over and break brittle bones. Even in pristine conditions, older people get sick. And even in secure facilities, there are crimes.”
She added that when any of these things go wrong, family members often responded by wanting to blame the facility, and want to remove their older relative from the place.
She added that a traumatic incident can spark or intensify these feelings, making it hard to make objective decisions.
“As with any trauma, it is important to deal with the trauma before making big changes. Change is disruptive to any of us, and the older we get, the more so. If the “flight” instinct can be managed and contained, it is very likely that for those whom it was a good choice to be there before the incident, it probably still is a good choice,” she said.
She concluded that her recommendation would be to provide the residents and their family with some information to help them recognise and address the symptoms of trauma, to offer them some group conversations in which they can discuss and name their greatest fears and to have discussions with management and police about the security situation.
“Older people also often feel useless and therefore overwhelmed by their fears and challenges. This is an opportunity to offer them an opportunity to be useful, by equipping them to be the eyes, ears and intelligence that might make them more secure.”
