Robbers douse kids with meths
2006-04-09 21:53
Johannesburg - Mpumalanga police are looking for eight armed men who poured methylated spirits on three children, threatening to set them alight, as they demanded access to a safe on their grandparents' farm at Sundra in the western part of the province.
Police spokesperson Abie Khoabane said on Sunday night that the grandparents, the children's 25-year-old uncle and the children - aged nine, 10 and 11 - were tied up and assaulted during the attack on Friday afternoon.
The robbers eventually got into the safe, took an undisclosed amount of money, jewellery and a firearm before making off in a double-cab Isuzu bakkie.
Khoabane said that during the attack, the nine-year-old had offered robbers R800 she had been given to buy a dog, to persuade them to stop hitting her 60-year-old grandmother.
However, they continued with their assault.
After the robbers left, the children's uncle untied himself and the others.
The family were all treated by a doctor in Springs.
Khoabane said the attackers had first come to the farm to make inquiries about buying sheep from the 75-year-old grandfather.
They later returned to rob the farmhouse.
He would not disclose the family's identity.
Khoabane called on farmers on the Mpumalanga Highveld to be "very cautious" when strangers approached them on their property.
- SAPA