Gran’s terror as grandson attacked
Man hurt fending off knife-wielding robbers in Kamma Heights home
TWO brazen robbers were caught red-handed yesterday morning after stabbing a man inside his Kamma Heights home and then sticking around to ransack the house.
Hours later, another house robbery happened in Persimmon Street in Fairview where the domestic worker was tied up and the house ransacked.
The first incident happened shortly after 9am when Kyle de la Rey, 20, was stabbed in the hand while trying to fend off two attackers who knocked on the door of his Cromwell Road home, asking for water and jobs.
The two knife-wielding robbers – one 27 and the other 44 – were caught by police shortly after overpowering De La Rey, pushing him to the ground, and tying him up.
His grandmother, cancer sufferer Norma Laubscher, 75, managed to hide in an upstairs bedroom while the attackers ransacked the house.
Originally from Graaff-Reinet, the grandmother came to stay in Port Elizabeth a little over a month ago to receive treatment at the Provincial Hospital.
She said she had come downstairs to fetch her dog when she heard a commotion and quickly went back up to the bedroom.
A tearful Laubscher said she managed to call Kyle’s father, Shaun, who had coincidentally received a call from his wife, whom he instructed to call the police.
“I had just come out of hospital on Wednesday, and I’m just sad I could not do more to help Kyle,” the gran said.
“All I can say is he must have put up a hell of a fight with these guys.”
Later, Kyle said from hospital he first thought the men were legitimately looking for work, but they then attacked him.
“The main thing going through my mind at the time was survival – I just wanted to get the knife away.
“I was also worried about my granny’s safety, as she cannot defend herself,” he said.
“I thought I was going to die, because while I was tied up, I overheard one of them saying they were going to kill me after they had finished, so I really thought I was going to die.”
Kyle said he was already on the road to recovery, and even wanted to “go home tonight [last night]”. Atlas Security operations manager Monty Montgomery said Kyle’s hand had been sliced when he grabbed the knife blade as the men tried to stab him.
The men then pushed him to the ground and tied him up before ransacking the house.
“Due to the commotion, the grandmother, who was hiding upstairs, managed to call someone for help,” Montgomery said.
Police, patrolling nearby, arrived within minutes and arrested the men. By mid-morning, both victims had gone to Medi-Cross and De La Rey was transferred to Greenacres Hospital due to the extent of his hand injuries.
Police spokesman Captain Johan Rheeder said the men had been detained for house robbery.
They are due to appear in court on Monday.
In the house robbery in Fairview, Rheeder said three men had entered the house and tied up the domestic worker who was then locked in the bathroom.
The robbers fled in a car parked outside the house.