Rietfontein woman shot, domestic and children left tied up in bushes

A 59-year-old woman, her 20-year-old son, and two grandchildren, aged five and 14, were tied up and left in the bushes overnight after an attack on a smallholding in Rietfontein, North West. The son managed to chew through the ropes around his mother’s wrists early yesterday morning. The woman’s wounded employer was later found lying on a dirt road a few kilometres away.

Two armed robbers attacked them around 22:30 on Monday night. They broke into the woman’s room with a crowbar, held the family at gunpoint, and threatened to kill them if they made any noise.

“They tied up my children and told me they wanted my boss and money. They told me to call her and when I didn’t, they hit me,” the visibly traumatised woman, who cannot be named as it indirectly identifies minors who witnessed a crime, told Kormorant yesterday morning.

The robbers then forced the family to the employer’s house, where they broke down the door and assaulted the employer. “They shot her dog when he tried to protect her. She screamed for me to help her as they were going to kill her, but I couldn’t. I was tied up and the robber pointed a gun at me. And then we heard many shots. The men forced us into the house and told us to keep quiet. I could see blood on my employer’s leg,” the woman said.

The assailants demanded cellphones, money, and bank cards before taking everyone outside and forcing them to walk deep into the bushes. The family was tied up again. “They said they were taking my employer. She was barefoot and I asked them if she could take my sandals. They took it and gave it to her.”

The family spent the night tied up in the bushes. “My children, even the five-year-old, were tied up with wire. I was tied with rope, and my son chewed through it,” she explained.

At 06:30, a neighbour saw the family and called PWV Security. “I called the police and quickly checked the house, as it was suspected the owner might be wounded inside. There was no one, and we waited for the police,” said Clive Fisher of PWV Security.

Aequitas Security officers and Afrique du Sud’s K9 team arrived on the scene soon after. Kormorant later learned that the missing woman had been found lying on a dirt road a few kilometres away, having been shot and assaulted. Necsa Emergency Services attended to her.