Mother and children beaten up during farm attack

Annemarie Carvalho, 37, and her daughters, aged nine and 12, were asleep when two attackers broke open a sliding door to gain entry to the house.

“Shortly before midnight, I awoke to flashing lights in the living room. I got up to check and when I got to the living room, I ran into one of the attackers. He grabbed me and hit me in the face with a bat. I fell and screamed, while trying to fight them off. My children then awoke and came to check what was going on. The attackers grabbed them and hit them with a sjambok,” Annemarie explained to Kormorant.

READ MORE: Women fight for their lives during attempted Brits farm attack

The attackers asked for money while repeatedly hitting Annemarie and the children. “At a sage, they dragged me along the floor, and my eldest daughter screamed for them to leave me alone. They then grabbed her and slammed her against the wall. They then went to the bedroom, where they took a laptop and cellphones, came back to the living room where they took my work laptop, and left.”

Annemarie and the children ran to their neighbours for help. Members of the Brits community policing forum, MonitorNet and Lowveld Security, as well as M.A.T.E.R. emergency personnel quickly arrived at the scene, followed by Moonooi police.

Annemarie and her children had serious injuries, and were taken to hospital for treatment.

“I don’t know why they left so suddenly. I believe that God’s angels were with us. My children are so traumatised. My parents, who used to stay with us, passed away in March and April and we have been struggling to process that, and now this happens. We are going to sell the farm.”

Mooinooi police are investigating the case, and no arrests have been made.

This article was translated from Afrikaans.

For more news your way, follow The Citizen on Facebook and Twitter.