Elderly man fights off, kills attacker
2013-03-06 09:41
Bloemfontein - Residents of Upington in the Northern Cape
have been rocked by a brutal attack on an elderly couple in their farmhouse.
Albert Strauss, 81, and his wife Chrissie, 72, were injured
on Monday evening when a man attacked them in their home on their farm which is
about 20km outside the town, Volksblad reported.
Despite being seriously injured, Strauss managed to shoot
and kill the attacker.
The couple’s son, Johan, said the attacker presumably
entered through the back door of the farmhouse while his mother was busy in the
scullery, and then hid in the study.
Kicked, beaten
His mother apparently became suspicious as the couple’s dog
had been on edge the whole evening. She was about to call for help in the
kitchen when the man attacked her.
She screamed and her husband, who was already in bed, rushed
to help her.
The attacker kicked the couple and beat them with a stick
but Strauss fought back, wrestling with the attacker and ending up in the main
bedroom where the robber broke off a piece of the cupboard door and assaulted
him with this.
Strauss fell and injured his hand but managed to grab his
pistol and fired shots at the attacker, who was hit in the neck and killed.
The couple then called their son, who lives about 10km from
his parents.
“At first I thought she was making a joke and I asked her if
she was sure, but I could immediately hear in her voice that something terrible
had happened. It’s wrong that something like this should happen to two elderly
people. It shouldn’t be like this,” said Johan Strauss.
The couple were both admitted to hospital and are in a
stable condition.
