'We'll kill all you white dogs'

2007-04-22 22:50

Virginia Keppler

Pretoria - "They told us: 'We're still going to kill all you white dogs.'," said an elderly couple who were throttled, bound and robbed in their Pretoria North flat.

Fanie Coetzee, 76, and his wife, Bekkie, 73, were getting ready for coffee about 06:45 on Friday when two intruders who had broken into the complex attacked them.

Speaking from Eugene Marais Hospital on Sunday morning, they described how they were attacked and threatened in their flat in General Beyers Street.

Bekkie was preparing Fanie's coffee when a man grabbed her by the throat from behind.

"He throttled me and just said 'Money, money'.

Kicked in their private parts

"I said we were pensioners and didn't have much money, but what there was they could have."

She said the robbers took R500 from her husband and R25 from her purse.

"Then they kicked and beat us. Oh! it was terrible. My back is black and my husband's throat is purple. My throat also feels raw."

"They kicked me once in my private parts and my husband was kicked there three times.

"The short one dragged me down the passage to the bedroom by my hair and tied me to the bed with my gown.

"I begged and pleaded, but he just wouldn't listen. One hit me so hard in the face that I went all dizzy."

Coetzee said he fought back hard: "Every time I saw a face, I hit it."

"When he grabbed one of our knives and wanted to stab me, I hit his wrist so hard that the knife fell out of his hand."

His attacker grabbed a table cloth, bound it round his neck and twisted it twice.

"Then he dragged me to the bedroom through the splinters of the glass pot that had been on the table and tied me hand and foot to the washbasin with a sheet."

He thinks the attackers took fright when they heard his neighbour getting his car out of the garage.

"I wriggled free and untied my wife before we phoned the neighbours. A policeman who lives across the road, telephoned the police," he said.

The intruders are thought to have gained access by jumping over the gate of the complex and entering through the door to the veranda, which was open.

Inspector Paul Ramaloko confirmed that the attack had been reported.

- Beeld