Farmer, wife flee through veld

2005-09-18 22:59

Eagan Williamson

Pretoria - A 59 year-old Mpumalanga farmer and his wife had to flee for their lives through a veld to a neighbouring farm on Friday night after being attacked and robbed in their bedroom.

Joe Wasserman, also knows as oom Toet, and his wife Elsa of the farm Avontelur near Badplaas was discharged from Barberton hospital on Sunday where he was treated for a serious head wound.

His wife was shot in her foot.

According to sergeant Marina Taeschel, Badplaas police spokesperson, Wasserman and his wife were already asleep when they were awoken at approximately 22:00 with four robbers standing in their bedroom.

Police couldn't say how the men, who seemed to be very young to Wasserman and his wife, gained entrance to the house.

There were no signs at all of forced entry and it is thought they had a duplicate key they used to enter the house.

One of the robbers hit Wasserman over the head with a heavy, blunt object, then tied him up and forced him to lie in the bath.

The robbers then took Mrs Wasserman out of the bedroom, locked the door and forced her to unlock the safe.

They took a 45 revolver, which dates from the second world war, and also R7 000 from the safe. They then tied Mrs Wasserman to a chair in the guest bedroom where was she was shot at and wounded in her foot.

''According to Mrs Wasserman the robbers were still in the house when she managed to free herself from her bonds and fled to their bedroom.

''She untied her husband and they left through a sliding door before fleeing through the veld to the neighbouring farm,'' Taeschel said.

Three of the attackers wore gloves and the fourth carried a rag with him and wiped everything that he had touched.

The attackers fled in Wasserman's Volvo with the revolver, cash and two cellphones in the direction of Elukwatini, where the police on Sunday found the abandoned car.

The police are continuing with their investigations but so far no arrests have been made.

- Beeld