Intruder hacks off man’s foot in PE
Intruder hacks off man’s foot
Chilling violence of Brymore house robbery traumatises couple
BY RIAAN MARAIS - 07 January 2021
She could do nothing but console her hysterical six-month-old baby as an attacker viciously hacked off her husband’s foot with a panga while he lay in bed, leaving it hanging by a thread.
This was the horrifying scene a 37-year-old Port Elizabeth woman described after her husband was rushed to hospital and she was left to deal with the trauma of the violent house robbery in Brymore in the early hours of Wednesday.
“It was so unnecessary. My husband was not fighting back,” she said shakily.
“He was lying in bed, defenceless. Why attack him?
“And why did it have to be so violent?”
Her husband, 38, was rushed to hospital with lacerations on his arms, body and legs.
He underwent emergency surgery to try to reattach his right foot, which was almost completely severed.
The woman, who did not want to be identified, said she woke up at about 2am to go to the bathroom and, as she rounded the foot of the bed, saw a man standing in the room.
“He looked right at me and put his fingers in front of his lips, like he was telling me to keep quiet.
“I yelled to wake my husband and that is when the chaos started.”
She immediately ran to the bed to grab her six-month-old daughter, who was sleeping in their room.
The baby had been awoken by the noise and was screaming.
“I picked her up and try to calm her down,” the woman said.
“That’s when I saw there were two men inside.
“One ran into the house, the other pulled out a panga and started hacking at my husband.”
As her husband was being attacked, the other intruder opened a sliding door to let two other accomplices into the house.
“They started grabbing things while this guy was still attacking my husband.
“There was no warning, he didn’t even threaten us. He just attacked.
“My husband never even had a chance to get out of the bed,” she said.
The vicious assault ended as quickly as it had started, with the attacker turning around and running out of the house with the others.
It had all happened in “the blink of an eye”, the traumatised woman said.
“I could see my husband was in a lot of pain.
“His foot was hanging by the skin and there was blood everywhere.
“We waited until we were sure it was quiet inside the house, then my husband told me to go find help.”
The robbers fled with their cellphones and a laptop.
The woman ran down the street, screaming for help until neighbours came outside and notified the police and emergency services.
Atlas Security personnel were the first to arrive, followed by the police and an ambulance.
Atlas Security group marketing manager Wayne Hart said the quiet suburb of Brymore had been targeted by increased criminal activity in recent weeks.
Throughout the whole of 2020, the area had only five break-ins, but three of these occurred last month.
Atlas guards patrolled the neighbourhood extensively in the hours after Wednesday’s house robbery and searched the nearby wooded areas while their control reviewed security camera footage to see in which direction the suspects had fled.
“Suspects are targeting homes that are not protected,” Hart said.
“We have pleaded with the community to please arm their alarms at night as they have an active role in ensuring our teams can respond in the event of an activation.
“This house robbery occurred at a home that does not have an alarm system.
“One can only assume the suspects may have known this.”
Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said the intruders gained access through a bathroom window, where the burglar bars had been removed.
Police are investigating a case of armed robbery.
The woman and her baby are staying with family members for now.
Her husband is in a serious but stable condition in hospital.
https://www.heraldlive.co.za/news/2021-01-07-intruder-hacks-off-mans-foot