Robbers leave trail of blood

2007-12-14 08:09

Liela Magnus

Pretoria - Two robbers on Wednesday terrorised residents in East Lynne, breaking into three homes in three hours and shooting four people.

They also nearly raped a woman. She was apparently saved by a friend, who was shot in the leg.

The two robbers, who caused panic in Hans Dons Drive, Swan Street and Stormvoël Drive, are still at large. The names of their victims have not yet been released.

The car of a 22-year-old woman, hijacked in the last incident, was found without wheels in a maize field near Marble Hall in Limpopo.

Inspector Klaas van der Kooi, a spokesperson for Villieria police station, said the night's robbery orgy started shortly after 20:00, when robbers hit on a house in Swan Street.

The owner of the house heard dogs barking and investigated. He was shot without warning.

The man's son-in-law went to investigate and was also shot. The father was taken to Pretoria Academic Hospital, and the son-in-law to Montana Hospital. Other family members who were inside the house weren't injured. Van der Kooi said the robbers entered the house, but left with only a cellphone.

They then went to a house in Stormvoël Drive, where they overpowered a woman in the yard. One of the robbers forced her to undress, upon which he also removed all his clothes.

She screamed and her friend turned up just as the robber was about to rape her. Robbers wounded him in the leg before fleeing. He was admitted to Kalafong Hospital.

In the third incident, the robbers targeted a 22-year-old woman who was parking her car at her home in Hans Dons Drive.

Gert Otto, a neighbour, noticed two men running down the street. "One of them had a firearm and fired three shots into the passenger side of the car."

Initially their shots missed the woman, but the robbers then pulled her from the vehicle and shot her several times before fleeing in the car.

The woman was admitted to Pretoria Academic Hospital in a critical condition.

According to Otto this was the third time shots were fired near his house this year.

- Beeld