Had it not been for her husband’s determination to fend off the attacker, family believe 84-year-old woman would have died.
AN 84-YEAR-old woman is fighting for her life in hospital after she and her husband were attacked by a man with a metal rake while they were asleep on their small-holding near Howick in KwaZulu-Natal.
Wendy Wilson, who has Parkinson’s disease and relies on a walker, bore the brunt of the attack because she slept on the side of the bed closest to the door.
Had it not been for husband Archer’s determination to fend-off the attacker, her family believes she would have died.
Wendy, 84, is in a critical condition in St Anne’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg. She sustained serious facial and head injuries and a punctured lung, while 82-year-old Archer was also admitted to hospital for medical observation.
He had mostly injuries to his hand.
Colonel Thembeka Mbele, the SAPS KZN spokesperson, said the attack at the Karkloof home occurred at around 4.30am.
“The man demanded cash and assaulted the couple with a rake.”
She said a man in his 30s had been arrested and that a case of attempted house robbery and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm had been opened.
Vaughn Wilson said that had it not been for the “heroics” of his father, a retired chartered accountant, his mother, a former nursing sister, would have died.
“Paramedics didn’t believe she would pull through, so we are fearing the worst.”
Vaughn said his mother had been no threat to the intruder, saying: “She would have not managed to even push back at her attacker.”
“My dad told us the only thing on his mind was to defend our mother.”
He said the man who was arrested, worked for him on his small-holding for 10 years, and had committed other petty crimes in their close-knit community.
Vaughn said the suspect had recently been released from prison where he was serving a sentence for theft.
MPL Christopher Pappas, the DA’s spokesperson on agriculture and rural development, said that this latest attack was a “disgrace” because it was yet another indication that the government was only “paying lip service” on the issue of farm attacks and rural safety.
