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South Africa
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Posted by: jojomataketa
'I feel emasculated'
21/12/2005 22:23 - (SA)
Christel Raubenheimer, Beeld
Pretoria - "I feel emasculated," says Alex Grobler of his inability to protect his diabetic wife, 55-year-old Jeannette, who died after a robbery.
Grobler, 62, and his wife were watching TV in their Lynnwoord, Pretoria home, when five robbers stormed into the room.
"They were shouting and one fired a shot at us," says Grobler.
Despite Jeannette having been shot in the thigh, the robbers dragged her through the house.
"They kept asking 'where are the guns, where's the money'.
"I said I didn't have any. I always tell people the only weapon I have is a bread knife," Grobler said on Wednesday.
But the robbers were not satisfied with this answer.
They wanted to lock Grobler up in the bathroom, but couldn't find a key, so they tied his hands and feet with clothing.
They again insisted that they wanted money, and twice hit him against the head.
Calmed down
He kept telling them that there was nothing. They ripped a sheet from a bed and hung it in front of the glass front door.
"They then calmed down and searched every drawer and cupboard. They had no reason to hurry," Grobler said.
The robbers also emptied Grobler's liquor cabinet.
One of them even emptied a can of cooldrink he had taken out of the fridge on Grobler's head.
Grobler managed to free himself after the robbers had fled in the couple's car, which they had filled with electrical appliances and other items.
Meanwhile, his wife had summoned her mother and a neighbour, whose son is a policeman.
Shortly before the police arrived, Jeannette collapsed on the kitchen floor.
'Where will it stop?'
Grobler and his mother-in-law tried to resuscitate her, but it was all in vain.
It is not known if it was the shot that killed her or the shock of the robbery.
"Afterwards we just sat here in a daze.
"What could we say to each other?
"Sorry?
"Is it necessary to mutilate someone if you want to steal a television?
"I feel emasculated.
"Our ability to protect ourselves has been taken away. Where will it stop ... and when?" Grobler wanted to know.
The couple's car was later found abandoned in Mamelodi.
The robbers were gone, but the key was still in the ignition and the windscreen wipers were switched on.