Robbers terrorise family at home

JON HOUZET

SIX armed men subjected a family on holiday in Boknes to a night of terror when they robbed them and tied them up recently.

During the robbery, the father and mother were stabbed.

Police spokesman Lieutenant Luvuyo Mjekula said the incident happened at about 1.30am on December 31. The police’s media statement was scanty, but another police source provided further information.

The 47-year-old father awoke to find two unknown men in his bedroom. The suspects jumped on the man and his wife, 32, and forced them to life still on the bed. The suspects were armed with knives.

They shredded a sheet and other bedding and used them to tie up the husband and wife.

The couple’s children, aged 5, 15 and 20, who were watching a movie, were forced by four other male suspects into the parents’ bedroom. They tied the children’s hands and demanded cash.

A two-year-old boywas sleeping in a separate bedroom but was left undisturbed.

The suspects then ransacked the house and took laptops, wallets, clothes and cell phones. The value of the stolen goods is currently unknown.

The suspects tried to take the victims’ car but could not open the electronic gate. They then locked the children in the bedrooms and fled on foot with the stolen property.

During their struggle with the suspects, the husband was stabbed in the stomachand his wife was stabbed in the hand. They were both treated at the Port Alfred Hospital.

The suspects’ faces were covered, making it difficult for the family to identify them. No arrests have been made.

Mjekula said a special investigating team had been established led by head of the detective branch, Captain Leon Els.