Black balaclava-clad man holds Haenertsburg woman hostage for an hour
Saturday, 16 June should have been a busy morning for Liz McGaffin (54) as she watered and sorted out plants at her off-the-grid peaceful home outside Haenertsburg.
MAGOEBASKLOOF – “He held my one arm behind my back and a knife at my throat. We were in my bedroom when Sir Pig, my six-year-old pig, came charging into the bedroom with his hackles up and growling. My attacker began strangling me and swung me around to use as a human shield between himself and the pig. He lunged at Sir Pig and I screamed ‘Out Piggy’ and my obedient pig obliged.”
You might also want to read: Elderly man dies, woman injured after attack on Haenertsburg farm
Saturday, 16 June should have been a busy morning for Liz McGaffin (54) as she watered and sorted out plants at her off-the-grid peaceful home outside Haenertsburg. She was preparing for the fair at the Magoebaskloof Hotel the following week. She’d also placed a crate of paint in her car to touch up her nursery signs at the hotel.
She was outside with her dogs, Tau and Rio, when she saw a flash in her strategically placed mirror inside the home. She went inside, realised someone had ducked behind her table, and ran outside screaming for her dogs. The intruder caught her from behind, grabbing her hair and arm as well, holding a knife at her throat. Rio went for him and he kicked the little dog. Then he lunged at Tau with the knife and Liz commanded Tau not to attack in order to save her dog.
The black balaclava-clad, clean smelling, clean clothed attacker was strong and well built. He held her tightly throughout the hour-long ordeal. In a rasping and agitated voice he constantly repeated, ‘I’m going to kill you’.
He forced her into the bedroom where he demanded the safe, but when she told him she didn’t have one, he repeatedly threw her against the wall. In the fracas he stabbed the palm of her hand. She recalled she had R300 in her satchel but when the cash wasn’t there, the attacker threw her against the wall again. She then remembered the money was in her desk.
He demanded all her electronic devices and then plastic bags to pack them in. Once everything was packed, he forced Liz onto her footstool, stood over her and rasped ‘I want your sex’ to which she told him she had a nerve disease.
Too exhausted to explain, she told the attacker she had Aids to which he got annoyed, slapping her off the footstool before ripping her back to her feet.
“Where are your car keys?” he demanded, and she gave them to him. He pushed her into the passenger seat and commanded her to unlock the gear lock. He held the knife at her head and got agitated when the car didn’t want to move. “Why won’t it go?” he asked her to which she told him to take his foot off the clutch. With that the uninsured car shot out like a bullet and at the corner of her property he slammed on the brakes before yelling at her to get into the back and ‘sleep’. Within seconds he screamed at her to get out of the car and told her to offload her crate of paint.
She dropped the crate with the back door of the car still open and ran into the house, locking the doors behind her to the sound of the car revving.
She ran to the neighbours 200 m away but they weren’t there so she ran back to the house before locking herself and the animals inside.
She found her two-way radio and called, “Please! Somebody help me,” on every channel. A voice replied, “Liz, we’ve got you”. Five minutes later Haenertsburg Neighbourhood Watch arrived with the police arriving a few minutes later.
Drones were used to search for the attacker but to no avail. Her younger son, Christopher, drove from Johannesburg and was on her doorstep by 17:00. He stayed with his mother and then took her to Johannesburg to recover.
Liz is now home but her livelihood is threatened as she is frightened and fragile which has taken its toll on her health and state of mind.
