SHOCKED family members and friends of a grandmother, aged 84, who was raped and stabbed in a Port Elizabeth retirement cottage complex early yesterday morning, are outraged that the elderly and frail woman could have been attacked with such brutality in her own home.
The victim, who is recovering at her granddaughter’s home in Walmer after being treated at St George’s Hospital, is grandmother to the wife of one of the Eastern Cape’s top state advocates.
“I work with cases like this every day, but nothing prepares you for when it happens to someone you care about,” the advocate said yesterday.
Police spokesman Sandra Janse van Rensburg said the woman – who lived in Winston Churchill Moth Cottages complex in Main Road – was overpowered by her attacker early yesterday.
The attacker, who gained access to her home through a window by forcing open the burglar bars, is still on the loose. He first bound and gagged her before stabbing her in the leg, then raped her and locked her in her bedroom. He then left the room, only to return a short while later to steal the watch from her wrist.
The advocate said his wife’s grandmother had managed to free herself and drag her bloody and frail body to safety to inform neighbours about the attack.
Moth Cottages resident Yvonne van Niekerk rushed to her friend and neighbour’s aid after hearing her knocking and seeing her drenched in blood through the window.
“She is a strong person,” Van Niekerk said.
Another neighbour, Ann Coetzee, said she and the other residents were traumatised by the attack. “We thought our security was fine, but the attacker managed to climb over a fence and break into a cottage.”
Coetzee said “everyone in the complex” was living in fear.
Complex chairman Viv White said she believed the attacker tried to break into another cottage before attacking the grandmother, but had been startled by the woman who lived there.
The advocate said the ordeal was a “massive shock for the family” and that everyone was traumatised. “You never expect something like this to happen to someone you care about.”
The victim is a mother of three. One of her sons lives in Australia and will be flying to be by her side, while her other son lives in England and is also likely to travel to South Africa to support his mother.
Her daughter in the Bay said her mother, who suffers from a heart condition, stayed calm throughout the horrific ordeal and displayed great bravery.
The family also commended the police for their swift response and thorough investigation at the scene.
Sister Linda Schwartz, of the organisation Age-in-Action, said she was shocked and ashamed that someone could attack a vulnerable elderly person in such a brutal way.
“The elderly are supposed to live out their golden years in peace, feeling nurtured.”
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