A Pretoria lodge owner and a security guard are fighting for their lives in hospital after armed assailants, who tied them up and ransacked the lodge premises, shot and stabbed them in the stomachs as they fled.
The attack, which took place at the four-star luxury Rhuslancea Lodge in Hennops River Valley area, northern Gauteng during the early hours of Saturday morning, is apparently part of a wave of violent crimes gripping the area.
The gang struck just after 1am when they dug a hole under an electric perimeter fence and overpowered a security guard.
After tying up the guard, several of the robbers stood watch over him while their accomplices made their way to the lodge's main house where they forced their way inside through a back door.
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Once inside, the gunmen overpowered the owners Riaan Malenze, 35, and his wife, Tertia, and tied them up before ransacking the house and forcing open a safe, which is believed to have contained firearms, jewellery and cash.
It is believed that the gunmen then taunted the couple threatening to sexually assault them before they opened fire on Malenze shooting him in the stomach.
It is not known how many times Malenze was shot.
As the gunmen who shot Malenze fled, their accomplices, who were keeping watch over the guard, stabbed him repeatedly before escaping. Malenze was rushed to Unitas Hospital by his wife, while the guard, who police have declined to name, was taken to Kalafong Hospital.
Both are in a critical condition.
Erasmia police station commissioner Superintendent Faan Steynberg confirmed that the robbers had gained access to the property by digging a hole under the perimeter fence which is electrified.
"They knew exactly what they were doing. Some went straight to the owner while the others overpowered the guard.
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