Three South African women kidnapped from farm

Edri Myburgh's husband Henk said the gardener and his mother were disgruntled over the fact that the mother had lost her job as their housekeeper to the kidnapped Mrs Moyana. The gardener's mother became ill and had herself recommended Mrs Moyana as her permanent replacement. But when the gardener's mother changed her mind and asked for her old job back, the Myburghs refused. Henk Myburgh said the revenge for this disagreement was so cruel, with his mother and wife extensively tortured and left with such severe injuries that both need emergency plastic surgery,and the housekeeper now paralysed, that he will never be able to forgive these men. Also see our previous report on the murder attacks against South African farmers, here and also here The Myburgh family gardener and an accomplice had overpowered Mrs Anna Myburgh and housekeeper Paulina Moyana on Wednesday morning at home. Anna was so badly tortured with a hot iron by these men, who also assaulted and stabbed her with a knife, that she requires plastic surgery .Her daughter Edri, who had unwittingly walked in while her mother was being assaulted, was also beaten up. The three women - the housekeeper was unharmed at this stage -- were then dumped into a car, driven for 53 kilometres and thrown out along the roadside near the town of Ogies. There, Edri was shot in the mouth execution style, but she survived because the bullet had entered between her nose and lip and shattered her left jaw. Her mother was also shot in the head, and that bullet also still needs to be removed. The men then drove off with the housekeeper, leaving the two Afrikaans women for dead along the roadside. However, the men then started arguing so vehemently with each other about what to do with Mrs Moyana, that they lost control of the car and crashed it., police said. They were arrested at the crash scene.The housekeeper, who appeared to be paralysed according to the emergency rescue services, was rushed to hospital. Injured wife walked 15km to get help Edri's distraught husband Henk said that even in her injured state, his wife still managed to walk for about 15km to try and find help, barefoot and clad only in her underwear, before a local farmer found her and took her and her mother to hospital. After the crash, the kidnappers, who may not yet be named, were arrested. "I hope they'll be jailed for life," her husband Henk said. "It won't make my wife better, but it will help a little. They were too cruel. It was revenge." Police captain Simon Petrus Mashiloane, said the unnamed gardener and his accomplice will probably appear in court in Bronkhorstspruit north of Pretoria on Friday on charges of attempted murder, kidnapping, illegal possession of a firearm and robbery. They will first have to lodge a bail application before their case can be scheduled for trial. see Elderly couple attacked by gang claiming to be detectives On the same day on a farm near Lichtenburg, a large group of men arrived in a car with flashing blue lights, claimed to be 'detectives' investigating stock theft. They attacked the elderly farming couple Willie and Martie Meyer, 80 and 70 years old. The armed group was 'very aggressive', pistol-whipped Mr Meyer, and held a loaded, cocked gun to Mrs Meyer's head,the couple told a Beeld newspaper journalist. Their lives were saved by a farm worker who fetched a nearby tenant farmer. Police inspector Carina Fourie said the gang arrived on the farm at around 9am and claimed to be investigating 'livestock theft'. Mr Meyer asked the 'detectives' to wait outside the homestead, but they stormed in and attacked the couple. Mrs Meyer started screaming loudly, at which point one man clapped a hand over her mouth and held the cocked gun to her head. They were then ordered to sit in the kitchen on chairs while they 'searched the house'. Then they demanded money and weapons - but couldn't find the guns which were hidden inside the homestead, so they kept on pointing their guns at the couple, threatening to shoot them if they did not give them their guns. It's not known how the gang knew that the Meyer couple had legally-registered guns in the homestead, police said afterwards. A farm worker - whose identity police does not want to reveal for fear of reprisals -- then rushed to farm tenant Flip Venter, who was busy working in a store well away from the homestead and had not heard the commotion. When Venter walked to the homestead the 'blue-light gang' fled with Mr Meyer's cellphone and wedding ring, firing a shot towards Venter but missing him. Venter seemed fearless: by the time this man tried to shoot again, Venter had already reached him, slapped the gun out of the man's hand and started grappling with them in the kitchen, Mrs Meyer told the Beeld newspaper. Then the self-styled 'detectives' fled. They all had handguns with them, and dressed in street clothes. see