An elderly woman was assaulted and assaulted in her home on a small holding outside Vanderbijlpark in Gauteng on Tuesday morning.
The 79-year-old Polla du Plessis was allegedly hit with an iron object in her bedroom before falling to the ground and pretending to be dead.
Du Plessis lives with her two sons and their families on an enclosed smallholding, although she lives in her own home on the smallholding.
According to Van Emmenis, at around 4am, three suspects broke the security door in front of his mother-in-law’s front door, after which they opened the door and went down the hallway where she lay in her bedroom. Du Plessis woke up before the suspects reached her room.
“They didn’t say anything. They just kicked open the bedroom door and started beating her. There was no warning, ”says Van Emmenis.
Du Plessis’s nose was broken in the incident and she sustained other injuries to her face and arms before lying motionless on the ground. The suspects then ripped open her cabinets’ doors and drawers before moving to the other three bedrooms and pouring the contents of the cabinets as well. The suspects even removed the toilet bowl lids in search of something valuable, Van Emmenis says.
Finally, the suspects apparently fled with a cellphone. Du Plessis remained silent until the suspects disappeared after which she raised an alarm with her eldest son in his home on the smallholding.
“One cannot understand that such a thing must happen to someone of 79 years who will not harm anyone. Why did they have to hurt her so much? ” Van Emmenis wanted to know.
Du Plessis was admitted to a hospital for medical treatment this morning. As far as Van Emmenis knows, no one has been arrested in connection with the incident.
