Manie van Zyl, 74; daughter Elmarie, 44, attacked, farm Nooitgedacht, Hertzogville – daughter put up spirited defence - neither badly injured

2010-10-10 Pieter Steyn reports in Volksblad: Bloemfontein – 74-year-old Manie van Zyl of the farm Nooitgedacht, 5km from Hertzogville, Free State was attacked by a man with an angle-iron on Friday Oct 9 2010. The old Afrikaner farmer was feeding the chickens. His daughter Elmarie, 44, said “My dad fell and the man stormed into the homestead. My dad followed, shouting warnings at me. The attacker then bashed my dad and he fell across the table. As I rushed into the living room, the attacker grabbed a chair, getting ready to strike my dad with it.’ When the black attacker saw her he threw a glass-cover of a cooking pot at her, which struck the farm-woman underneath one eye and broke her glasses. The man said he was looking for a wallet.’ She said she ‘somehow managed to push the man from the house. He beat me with his fists and threatened to shoot me dead if I did not give him R100. He was rummaging in a pocket apparently getting out a gun,’ she said. Miss Van Zyl managed to shove him out the door and lock it. The attacker ran in the direction of the nearby Malebogo suburb. The local farm-security unit coordinator Hannes de Jager said the farmers in the region were alerted and followed the man’s tracks together with the local police. SAPS spokesman capt Harry Nagel said the 31-year-old suspect was arrested in his township house within hours of the attack. He is held in the Boshoff SAPS station and expected in court on Monday Oct 11 2010. Miss Van Zyl said she and her dad had only lived on the farm for two months and were ‘shocked’but grateful to be alive. Neither was badly injured. http://www.volksblad.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Bejaarde-74-dogter-op-plaas-oorval-20101010