Mother of two raped in brutal farm attack near Pretoria

A community in the north of Pretoria was shocked on Wednesday by the brutal rape of a mother of two young children during a farm attack.

The attack happened in Honingnestkrans near Onderstepoort and Hammanskraal in the early hours of Wednesday morning, reports the Pretoria North Rekord.

The woman and two men who work at the farm were also assaulted with bolt cutters and hammers by the group of armed attackers.

“Around 01:00, three men attacked my workers on the farm,” farm owner Wayne Alberts told the Rekord.

Alberts said the attackers gained entrance to his property by cutting through the fence in Hoep-hoep Street.

“They didn’t come right to the main house, but attacked my employees in another house on the farm,” said Alberts. “They broke down the doors and overpowered the two men and the woman.”

Alberts said the two men were assaulted as one of the suspects raped the woman.

According to his employees, the assailants wanted information on what valuables were kept in the main house on the farm.

“It makes me sick to think these bastards were attacking my employees right outside my house,” said Alberts.

“And all this brutality only to learn what I keep inside the house.”

After the assault, the victims were taken outside, where the attackers reportedly threw blankets over their victims’ heads.

One of the victims showing how he was tied up and covered with a blanket. Photo: Ron Sibiya

“They were told not to make a sound or they would die,” he said.

Alberts said the attackers never came to his house.

By the time he had found his battered and bruised employees, the men had disappeared.

Alberts took his employees to report the attack at the Pretoria North police station.

“Apart from the injuries they suffered, the woman and both men are still traumatised,” he said.

The woman, who is in her 30s, was taken to a nearby hospital while the men received trauma counselling.

Police spokesperson Captain Rebecca Phatlane said they were investigating.

“The suspects are unknown and no arrests have yet been made,” said Phatlane.

Alberts said this was the first violent attack at his property.

Niekie Steenkamp holds up the blankets used by the attackers to cover the victims’ heads. Photo: Ron Sibiya