A 19-year-old girl survived an ax attack on Wednesday night around 20:00 on a smallholding in the Glen Donald, Midvaal area.
“I was alone at home and on a treadmill,” the girl who wants to remain anonymous, told Maroela Media. “I turned up the volume of the music because nobody was at home that time.”
The family’s two dogs, a Golden Retriever and a Labrador Retriever, was laying near the girl and suddenly started barking. “As I looked up, I saw a man clothed in black standing in the room. He did not have a balaclava on but had a black cloth over his mouth. He had an ax in his hand. It appeared as though he was frightened when he saw me. I believe he thought nobody was at home.”
The girl jumped off the treadmill and wanted to grab her phone that was on a bench between her and the attacker. “When he saw me grab my phone, he grabbed me.”
She managed to get away and ran toward the kitchen, but he followed and shot at her. She could not at that moment get to the front door keys, to open the security gate. “I landed up in the garage, but there was nowhere out. The man cornered me and hit me over the head with an ax. I fell on my back, and the man stood there staring. At that moment the dogs began to bark, and I am not sure if they bit him.”
The girl managed to kick the man and for a moment managed to get away from him. She ran toward her parent’s bedroom and fell over books on the path that her mother was busy packing away. “The man also fell over the books and landed on top of me. It was pitch dark, and he kept on hitting me with the ax. I tried to protect my face, and he hit directly on my legs. I think he might have thought that I would kick him in his face.”
She once again managed to flee the attacker and managed to lock the security gate between her and the man. One of the dogs, the Labrador Retriever, was behind the man and jumped on him. The girl and the dog managed to get out of the house and ran across the road to a neighbor for help.
The neighbors, were outside, greeting visitors, and immediately went to help the girl.
In the meantime, the attacker, set a room on fire before he fled.
The girl sustained a fracture in her head and three on her legs and one on her back where she was hit with an ax. “The doctors said the skull fracture would heal totally.” She was discharged from the hospital on Friday and is currently receiving trauma counseling.
She is a B.Com (in accounting) at the University of Stellenbosch and would return on January 21 to further her studies.
The girl’s mother told Maroela Media they suspect that there were at least three people involved, although only one was in the house.
“The curtains, bed linen, a bench, and bedroom furniture burnt. There was a lot of smoke damage in the house,” she said.
“I want to thank the Glen Donald community security (GPF) who reacted swiftly. The neighbor, call for assistance immediately she became aware of an attack. I want to thank the police and the fire brigade for responding.”
According to her, members of GPF also help to extinguish the fire.
“It is wonderful how everybody responded. If the hit to her head was less than a half a centimeter further, she could have suffered brain damage. It is incredible that my daughter defended herself and got away from the attacker.”
A case of attempted murder and robbery has been opened, and the police confirmed that nobody had been arrested as yet. Anybody with information can contact Derrick Gibson on 016 3620126.
Read the original article in Afrikaans on Maroela Media
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