An 80-year-old South African woman who was kidnapped and brutally beaten by attackers who then abandoned her in neighbouring Lesotho has been discharged from hospital, News24 reports.
The attackers raided Daleen van der Hoven’s farm in Wanatha, in the Zastron area in the Free State province, last week.
The attackers dropped her off in Lesotho, clothed only in her nightgown in temperatures of -5°C, the report says. They also burnt her car which they had used to get away.
The suspects stole several thousand rand in cash, valuable family heirlooms such as jewellery and three rifles that belonged to her father, News24 reports.
An 80-year-old Free State woman has survived after being attacked, kidnapped and dropped off barefoot in -5°C weather wearing nothing but her nightgown. | @Netwerk24 https://t.co/93ixLt8DcC
— News24 (@News24) July 14, 2020
The four alleged attackers, all assumed to be Lesotho citizens, fled across the border with Ms Van der Hoven in the back seat, the report says.
Her daughter Lize du Plessis told News24 that police in Lesotho had arrested two men with criminal records in South Africa in connection with the incident.
Ms Du Plessis said her mother’s doctor had called her “an iron woman”.
She added that her mum was recovering at home.
