A wave of house robberies has hit the Cape Winelands, and for one Faure woman the nightmare struck twice.

On Thursday 16 April, around 21:15, Anthea Myburgh walked out onto the front stoep of her home on a family farm in Faure and was met by four men emerging from the dark. They were dressed in dark clothing, gloves and balaclavas.

“They asked for money and I told them I didn’t have any,” she recalled. “I ran through my options, weighing up whether I could get back into my house, but I realised I wouldn’t be able to close my door and hold four grown men back.”

Armed with a golf club and a log, the men turned on her but the 52-year-old stood her ground.

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Valuables looted

“I was holding a Tupperware bowl and walloped them with it. I told them to leave me alone and go. The whole feral side of me took over.”

Myburgh was struck across the face with the log and her eardrum burst when she was struck by the golf club. A front tooth was also knocked out.

Three men held her down while the fourth ransacked her home.

She believes the same attackers returned two weeks later, on Saturday 2 May, around the same time. This time Myburgh’s 85-year-old mother, who lives in another home on the farm, was targeted.

The elderly woman had let her dogs out for a quick run when four similarly dressed men confronted her. But she didn’t fight back like her daughter.

The group bound her with a cord, elbowed her in the ribs and used dishwashing liquid to pull the rings off her fingers. All her jewellery, including irreplaceable heirloom pieces, was stolen.

The suspects used tools found in the house to break open chests before stripping the room of its valuables.

Once the robbers left, the elderly victim pressed the panic button to alert authorities. Vetus Schola rapidly responded to both incidents, with management attending both scenes.

“The experience has tainted the farm for my mother, having lived there for 60 years; for the first time she feels unsafe,” a family member said.

Myburgh added: “When it happened to me I thanked God it wasn’t my mother. That they got to her hasn’t sat well with me.”

Myburgh has heard of more robberies in the area over the past couple of months. “Every incident in this area, from Raithby to Bonniemile, has similarities,” she said.

Arrest executed

Somerset West police confirmed they were investigating cases of house robbery in connection with both Faure incidents.

Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Suzan Jantjies confirmed that they believe a crime syndicate is operating in the Raithby area.

Myburgh’s ordeal forms part of a broader wave of house robberies across the Boland and Helderberg since late May.

On Wednesday 27 May four armed men in balaclavas tied a mother, father and daughter up at the Dutch reformed church rectory in Stellenboschkloof Road, Stellenbosch, before fleeing with cellphones, laptops and jewellery.

Two days later, on Friday 29 May, the wave reached the Helderberg when four balaclava-clad men held-up a couple at the Rust en Vrede Farm in Raithby, forcing them inside, tying the husband up and fleeing with a tablet, cellphones, jewellery, cash and vehicle keys.

On Tuesday 2 June five armed men held-up a family on a farm near Ridgeback Wine Estate in Agter-Paarl for around 25 minutes before fleeing with cellphones, laptops and vehicle keys.

The following evening armed men raided a home in Bonniemile Drive, Stellenbosch tying the victims up before ransacking the home.

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On Friday 5 June at 19:30, the pattern was revisited in Raithby, where suspects gained access to a farmhouse on Winery Road through a window. When the residents arrived home and confronted the burglars, one of them was attacked with a knife and suffered a stab wound to the right arm.

A 20-year-old suspect was arrested in connection with the incident that evening.

In the latest incident, Somerset West police are investigating a case of house robbery after five unknown men, also wearing balaclavas, held up a victim at his home on a farm in Raithby before 19:00 on Friday 19 June.

Jantjies said the victim was tied up and the suspects fled with cellphones, jewellery and other valuables. She declined to comment on whether the most recent incident in Raithby is linked to cases in other policing precincts.

Anyone with additional information on the cases is urged to phone Somerset West police on 021 850 1325.