Yda Ruthven (65) might lose the use of her right hand, after she and her husband were attacked on their farm in Laersdrif, Limpopo, South Africa and she was shot in the arm.
Yda and her husband, Hannes (75), runs a liquor store on their farm. Martie Ruthven, the couple’s daughter, told Maroela Media her parents decided to close the store about 17:00 on Saturday June 13, 2015, but they usually close at 17:30. According to Ruthven her parents have to go through several gates to get back from the liquor store to the farmhouse, about 20m away.
Ruthven said her parents were already outside when they saw three cold drink bottles on a wall. They threw the bottles away. “My mother bent down and when she came up a man was in front of her, who put a gun to her chest. My mother screamed and five shots were fired.” According to Ruthven no shots hit her mother. “She bent down again and then the robber shot her in the arm.”
According to Ruthven there were two suspects, they grabbed a bag in her mother’s hand, and fled. There were magazines and a tablet in the bag. “My parents had money and cell phones with them but it was not taken.”
Ruthven’s father was some distance behind her mother during the incident. He was not injured, but extremely shocked.
Ruthven said they suspect the bottles were placed there to show how many people are in the immediate vicinity, since an Indian next to her parents’ farm has a shop. “I think if my parents closed the liquor store later that day, there might have been more attackers and my mother could have been killed.”
Ruthven said her mother underwent surgery on Sunday and Tuesday and a surgical plate was put in her arm. “The doctor said she could possibly lose the use of her right hand. The bullet entered near her elbow. The bone was shattered and many nerves are damaged. She has a lot of pain and will have to undergo surgery again in six weeks.”
According to Ruthven it is the fourth time that her parents were attacked. “My mother was strangled during one of the previous attacks. They are now going to sell everything and move to Pretoria where my brother lives.”
South Africa Today – South Africa News
