Elderly woman tied up for three hours

MBOMBELA - After being tied to a chair on Tuesday and trying to escape, an elderly woman eventually managed to wheel herself out and shout for help.

The woman, thought to be in her 80s, lives near Engen El Madré. She was at home when three men broke in at 11:00.

Divergent Ops’ Juandré Rautenbach said, “The three suspects did not assault her. It appears they were only there to steal, but the victim has been quite traumatised by the ordeal.” He said the men came in, tied her to a chair with wheels and gagged her. They searched her house for items to steal. “The woman was able to tell the suspects she was battling to breathe, and they loosened the gag around her mouth, but left her tied up. They were only in the house for about 10 minutes and stole jewellery, cellphones, a laptop and a .38 special firearm.”

He said they left the woman tied to the chair when they fled the house, and for three hours, she tried to loosen her restraints and call for help. “Eventually she managed to kick herself out of the kitchen and then out onto the patio, where she screamed for help, and a neighbour came to help her.”

Rautenbach, Brandt Ehlers (Divergent Ops’ operations manager) and some armed response officers were on the scene within four minutes of receiving the call for help. “The police arrived on the scene within 10 minutes of us calling them,” said Rautenbach.

Nelspruit Police Station’s spokesperson, Captain Zandile Gqawa, said by the time of going to press that information on the matter was still being gathered, and that the police would comment at a later stage.