Durban - Criminals who thought they had a defenceless target in their sights when they attacked an 80-year-old Zululand grandmother got the shock of their lives when the tables were turned on them, with one of them suffering serious gunshot wounds.
The intruder was shot by a family member after the elderly woman’s granddaughter was also attacked when she put up a frantic fight to save her grandmother’s life.
This is just one of three recent incidents in KwaZulu-Natal where families have fought back.
In the Zululand incident, Sara Kruger was seriously injured when she was attacked by two knife-wielding criminals during a family reunion. Her granddaughter, Marlese Roestorff, 33, who had come to her defence, had to have seven stitches to a gash on her head after she was hit with a crowbar.
An ailing Kruger was visiting Roestorff in Richards Bay last week when the criminals struck.
By the end of the three-minute ordeal, Roestorff lay on the floor bleeding profusely, her grandmother had a broken arm and one criminal cried helplessly after being shot by one of his would-be victims. The other ran away.
A distraught Roestorff said the family, including her husband, two young children, siblings, parents, and grandmother gathered at her Arboretum, Richards Bay, house for a braai on Wednesday evening last week.
“We had just finished the braai and were unwinding, catching up. I hadn’t seen some of my family in a while so it was nice to have everyone there, especially my grandmother.”
Roestorff said she was preparing to put her five and nine-year-old children to bed when “all hell broke loose” as two brazen criminal walked in through the lounge door.
“They weren’t wearing balaclavas,” she recalled.
The rest of the family were sitting around the dining room table when the security gate burst open and a man stormed in. Her grandmother was the only one who was sitting in the lounge.
“From the outside the criminals could only see her, so they thought she was alone,” said Roestorff.
Realising that he had walked into a packed house, Roestorff said the criminal stood in the doorway, stumped.
Roestorff’s husband, Miguel da Costa, calmly pleaded with him, offering to give him all their belongings if he did not to harm anyone.
However, soon after, a second “more aggressive” man walked in, unleashing his terror.
“Those were the longest three minutes of our lives,” said Da Costa.
As Da Costa tried to shield the young children from seeing the drama, the second intruder – who was holding a brick in his hand – walked towards Kruger, striking the elderly woman. The shaken grandmother managed to shield her head with her arm.
“He hit her on the arm and she cried out in pain,” said Roestorff.
Seeing that Kruger had taken cover, the “enraged” criminal “who appeared drugged” grabbed a crowbar and lunged at the defenceless woman.
That’s when Roestorff came to her rescue, taking on the intruder. “It was an instant reaction,” she said.
Screaming at them to leave her grandmother alone, she ran and stood in front of Kruger. “I could see that this infuriated him as he grabbed my arm and hit me on the head with the crowbar.” Roestorff fell to the floor, the young children crying hysterically.
But Da Costa’s father, Luis, who was in the bedroom next to the lounge, was able to retrieve his 9mm gun. Da Costa said he saw out of the corner of his eye his father signalling for him to move out of the way. As soon as he moved out of the line of fire, Luis fired two shots at one of the intruders, who was trying to attack Roestorff again.
He fell to the floor and his accomplice ran off with two cellphones.
“I tried chasing him, but I fell after tripping over the bricks that they had put on the driveway,” said Da Costa.
Richards Bay police spokesman captain Debbie Ferreira said that the wounded attacker was under police guard in Ngwelezane Hospital.
The attackers face charges of robbery, assault and have been linked to other cases in the area. Ferreira said that the second man was still at large.
Roestorff said their young children were still traumatised, and that the family had received counselling. “I guess we’re fine, under the circumstances,” she said. “I spoke to my grandmother and besides the severe bruising, she’s holding up okay.”
In another incident this week, a South Coast son came to the rescue of his parents when they were attacked by three criminals in their Kingsburgh home. Morne Potgieter, 24, attacked the intruders with a baseball bat when he was woken by the cries of his 43-year-old mother, Jenny, at 3am.
Despite being stabbed several times in the chest, his father, Dave Potgieter, 62, managed to wrestle a knife away from one of his assailants and stabbed two of them.
Potgieter was later rushed to Kingsway Hospital with a punctured lung and was being treated in the intensive care unit, where his condition has since stabilised.
During the commotion, one of the robbers stabbed and killed the family’s Jack Russell, which had attacked them.
In June, 13-year-old Jemma de Gaspary kicked and hit a robber on the head with a walking stick to stop him from throttling her 75-year-old grandmother, Elizabeth Shepherd. Since the robbery, the Grade 8 pupil at St Mary’s Diocesan School for Girls, Kloof, has been sleeping with her baseball bat next to her. - Independent on Saturday