Bets Braack 73 attacked in Brenthurst home by black knifeman at noon, Monday July 15 2013: saved by arrival of her children
15 July 2013 Thelma Koorts Mrs Bets Braack, 73, was attacked on Monday at noon inside her kitchen at Brenthurst by a knifeman while her husband had left the house to have their car repaired.
She was saved by the arrival of her son-in-law Sias and wife Hanlie - who stopped at the house, blew the horn as they always did, and then drove off again, thinking the parents were not at home.
The black knifeman who threatened her with a knife got spooked and ran away. Sias said his mother-in-law was accosted by the man while she was baking - and had just gone to the dining room to get an egg-beater when she heard rattling in the kitchen.
"She thought some pans had fallen down, but when she returned to the kitchen the man was inside the kitchen: he had climbed through the windows.
He threatened her at knifepoint and forced her into the bedroom, demanding 'jewellery, money and guns'.
Meanwhile we were in the vicinity and decided to stop by to have a quick cup of tea at our parent's home.
When we got no reaction to our blowing the horn we phoned the house-phone but got no reply, so we drove off again.'
When the knifeman heard the horn he ordered Bets to lie on her stomach on the bed, tied her hands with shoe laces - meanwhile Bets was telling him those were her children outside, waiting to come in, and that they had a key to the house.'
It's when the phone rang that he panicked and ran.
Sias noticed the man in the garden but believed it may have been a gardener. "He was acting strangely but we only realised it later. We went to buy some milk at a shop nearby with the intention of going back to the house, when Bets phoned Sias and raised the alarm.
The man had taken her cellphone and some jewellery trinkets and placed it in a blue bag. Ted arrived shortly thereafter too - in time to console his shocked wife.
Arrangements were made for her to be visited by a chaplain.
http://www.looklocal.co.za/looklocal/content/en/brakpan/brakpan-news-crime?oid=7616853&sn=Detail&pid=490021&Bejaarde-in-huis-oorval---gedreig-en-beroof
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