Woman fights off attacker

Man held after second break-in attempt

A man who allegedly beat and attempted to rape a foreign volunteer worker inside her Richmond Hill home during the early hours of the morning was arrested just two hours after he fled from security officials – trying to break into her home again.

“He wanted to rape me. I just fought back with everything I had.” These were the words of Nicky Emmens, 57, who managed to fight off the 21-year-old man who broke into her Mackay Street duplex shortly after midnight.

“I was sleeping when all of a sudden this man appeared at my bedroom window [on the second floor]. He was standing on the neighbours’ roof , ” a visibly shaken Emmens said yesterday. “

I jumped out of bed and confronted him when he told me that he wanted to sleep with me in the house. “I argued with him and he pulled the window open before climbing inside.

“I ran downstairs and managed to press the panic button.” She said the attacker had clearly wanted to rape her. “As I got down the stairs, he grabbed me.

“I grabbed a chair and threw it at him. This made him angry and he pushed me to the ground. “He then started kicking and beating me while I was on the ground.

“All I thought was that I must fight, fight back, no matter what happens."

“I knew that Atlas [Security] would arrive soon so I just had to keep him at bay while waiting for them.”

Within minutes of arriving, Atlas armed response officers spotted the scuffle, which had progressed to the entrance hall.

“They screamed at him and he then ran back up the stairs and fled through the same window and along the adjoining roof,” Emmens said.

“Two hours later, I heard my neighbour screaming. The guy had returned and was trying to break in through my first-floor bathroom window."

“I pressed the panic button again and he then ran off.”

Atlas operations manager Monty Montgomery said while they were searching for the attacker after the second incident they had heard a woman screaming in Sherlock Street – one street away.

“Armed response and police sped off and found the man on a balcony of another duplex trying to break in.”

Montgomery said the man had changed his clothes between the first and second incident. Emmens came to South Africa from Amsterdam three years ago.

Police spokeswoman Colonel Priscilla Naidu said: “The man has been arrested, but the preliminary charge is for trespassing. Investigators will have to hold identity parades and gather forensic evidence to link the suspect to the initial attack.”

Naidu said the man would appear in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court today.