MBOMBELA – Sharon Cronjé (62) believes it is only by the grace of God that she survived an attack at her home in Alkmaar on Sunday.
Lowvelder visited Cronjé at her home on Monday morning. For safety reasons, she asked that no pictures of her be taken.
According to Cronjé, she opened the back security door for the domestic worker who takes care of her sick husband while she attends church.
“I called her and left the door open for about two minutes to drink the tablets I take for my back. When I returned to the kitchen, they were standing in front of me.”
Cronjé alleged one of them immediately grabbed her by the throat and tried to strangle her, while also putting his fingers into her mouth and down her throat to choke her. “He told me to be quiet and I just kept on praying that Jesus would let me live.”
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She tried to fight back and bit his fingers. This caused her dental plate to be pressed into her jaw. She attempted to break loose from his grip. He then took a panga and lightly, but repeatedly, hit her on the head with its handle.
“I could feel I was losing consciousness. They tied my feet together with a telephone cable and my hands with a cable tie. One used the scarf I was wearing to strangle me, and he shoved a cloth down my throat. They kept asking me for cash.”
Meanwhile, Cronjé’s friend, who travels with her to church, had seen the men heading to Cronjé’s house while she was waiting at the gate. She ran to neighbours to alert them. They proceeded to phone the security company and the police.
“They must have seen my friend taking notice of them, because they were in a hurry and when I explained there was no cash, they ran away.”
Cronjé said that she managed to gather her strength and make her way to the kitchen. She took scissors and cut herself loose. After this, she walked to the domestic worker’s house and saw that she was tied up on her bed.
The alleged attackers were gone by then, but they had left behind their weapons, the panga and a knife.
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Cronjé was taken to hospital to be treated for various bruises. “I also struggled to breathe.”During the attack, Cornjé’s husband Fred was asleep in their bedroom and escaped unharmed.
“The devil tried to prevent me from doing the Lord’s work, but He knows that my intentions were clear,” Cronjé said. “I am calm because I know that He was with me.”
