Southern Africa
Wesselsbron - A brazen armed robber, who carried on breaking down a security gate - and even switched on a light inside - despite dogs barking in the farmhouse, has presumably been left paralysed after he was shot in the neck at close range by a farmer's wife. Cecelia Steynberg, 51, of the farm Stormpan, was woken at about 03:00 on Wednesday by the barking of their two small dogs. The way the dogs were barking made her suspect something was wrong. She stood up, put on her dressing gown, fetched her firearm from the safe and climbed back in bed. Her husband, Callie spends most of the week in Kroonstad for business while his wife stays home alone.
While she was waiting, firearm in hand, she could hear the security gate in the hallway that leads to her bedroom being broken down. She couldn't reach the farm manager on the two-way radio because he was busy in the chicken coops. The next moment, the robber was in the room with her. She fired a shot but missed. This didn't stop him, so she shot him in the neck while he was barely a metre away from her. Apparently the robber's own firearm misfired.
"She phoned me and said she shot someone and doesn't know if there are other people in the house. Then she put down the phone. From 120km away, I had to quickly mobilise everyone by telephone," said her husband. Mrs Steynberg then went outside and fired another shot to draw the farm workers' attention. Police spokesperson Puleng Motsoeneng says the robber told police that there were three others with him. They gained access to the house by cutting the burglar bars at the TV room's window. Then they broke down the security gate which leads to her bedroom.
The wounded man was found with a firearm (of which the serial number had been filed off), Mrs Steynberg's car keys and a driver's licence belonging to someone else. Steynberg said at the farm on Wednesday that his wife is tough, but he suspects the shock will hit her once everything has settled down. On the day before the attack, she had gone to the police station to fill in forms to renew her firearm licence, specifically to make sure the firearm is not in her possession illegally.
The wounded man was admitted to the hospital at Odendaalsrus under police guard, after which he was transferred to the Bongani hospital in Welkom. A search for the three other robbers was launched on Wednesday morning by the police, trackers, farmers and Hennie Gerber, Free State agriculture's intelligence chief, and his team. A second suspect was arrested later that morning and has already provided the police with certain information. The other two managed to evade the search team near Odendaalsrus. Gerber says this success shows that the farming community is alert and ready, and that proactive steps can be taken with the proper safety measures.
-Beeld
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