Pregnant Free State mom raped
2010-10-25 08:18
Bloemfontein - A traumatised Free State man has spoken about the horrific attack in which his pregnant 21-year-old daughter was raped by robbers.
"Just the other day she was still my innocent little girl, running around barefoot," said Holla Holtzhausen, from the Mabula game farm near Ladybrand.
Holtzhausen said his daughter Monya, her partner Quintin Steyn, 23, and their 2-year-old son were attacked on a smallholding near Estoire outside Bloemfontein at about 03:00 on Friday.
Armed robbers
They woke up to see masked men standing next to their bed. Two of the men were armed.
"The men insisted on R10 000. Quintin said he didn't have that much cash in the house, but he could call his sister to bring the money. They refused and sprayed him with teargas. Quintin lay down over their little boy to try to protect him from the teargas."
Holtzhausen said there was also a break-in at the house on Tuesday night, but the robbers could only get away with a small amount of money from a handbag.
"On Friday morning they cut the burglar bars with a bolt cutter. They forced Quintin to open the safe's combination lock and took some jewellery and a small amount of cash."
The robbers then loaded various electronic devices, including four expensive televisions, a computer and DVD players, into Steyn's bakkie.
"Then they were blindfolded and they tied my grandson to Quintin. He and Quintin were shoved into the bakkie with one of the robbers who drove away."
Flung into car
Apparently Monya was then flung into her car and one of the robbers drove off with her.
"They didn't know where they were going, but at one stage Monya saw the home affairs department building through a slit in her blindfold."
According to Holtzhausen, they soon stopped at a house where the robbers' accomplices unloaded the stolen goods and packed them in a garage.
"One of them drove with Monya to a veld nearby and took off her clothes. Then she was raped.
"Another one came driving over with Quintin and my grandson. The men left them there and fled on foot."
Holtzhausen says his daughter recognised the voice of one of the men as someone who had worked for her and Steyn before.
Traumatised
"We shouldn't hate, but it's difficult when something like this happens to your youngest daughter. She's more than three months pregnant."
He says his daughter and Steyn are severely traumatised and are staying with family in Bloemfontein.
Police spokesperson Chaka Marope says charges of rape and housebreaking are being investigated.
"The police are following up on promising leads. We expect arrests soon."