Durban – The victim of a farm attack shared details of the morning she and her husband were attacked by a gang.
One of the attackers is alleged to have chanted “Kill the Boer, kill the Farmer” during a farm attack almost two weeks ago.
Tim and Amanda Platt were attacked and robbed in a rental cottage 15km outside Pietermaritzburg in the early hours of August 17.
The cottage is about 20m from the main farmhouse.
Recalling what happened at about 1.45am that morning, Amanda said that she and her husband were in bed; he was asleep but she was awake.
“The whole incident took place in about 50 minutes, which felt like an eternity,” Amanda said.
She said she heard strange noises and told Tim about it. They got up and checked. They switched on the outside light and noticed their security door was open.
“Upon looking through another window, I noticed a male running with something big in his hand. At this time we heard banging at the back door in the same room. Somebody was breaking the door down with a vengeance,” Amanda said.
She said she quickly called a neighbour, alerted him of the incident and set the alarm off.
At that time, they saw parts of the stable door being chopped through. Pieces were flying and it was clear two people were attempting to get in by force. They could hear them speaking.
“I quickly got one of my axes which I keep as a weapon and tried helping my husband and together we tried to ward them off with any object we could find, trying to keep them out,” Amanda said.
“It was chaotic!”
Amanda said they were struggling to hold them back, but eventually the suspects broke the bottom part of the door and started hitting them with pipes and hurling rocks.
“The attack was in full force,” she said.
Amanda said that the bottom part of the door held well due to a doorstop.
She said the suspects managed to open the top half of the door, exposing themselves as the light was on.
“I shouted ‘just go’ and he leaned over the door grabbing me, hitting me on the arm with some object then he pulled me so hard trying to get me over it that my copper bangle changed shape, shouting ‘Kill the Boer! Kill the Farmer’.
“I managed to loosen his grip and got away and ran to set the alarm off again but in vain!”
Amanda described the suspects as ruthless and persistent. Nothing deterred them, not even the alarm nor the fact that they were fighting back.
She said it was chaotic as stones, sticks, pipes and other items were flying through the then-half door.
“My husband was strong and brave, fought relentlessly and kept them at bay… It was then I heard glass breaking in the bedroom. I ran there to defend the now newly made access entry through 10 broken windows,” Amanda continued.
She reiterated that the suspects were ruthless and not afraid.
Two more people – one with a bolt cutter and the other a crowbar – one was cutting the window frames and the other was fighting Amanda through the broken panes.
She said she did not realise one of the suspects was cutting the steel frames away.
She also said that as a precaution and defence, she kept a spear and axes in the bedroom because they did not have weapons.
Amanda said she tried to ward them off with the spear.
“One of them climbed in through this huge gap – six steel frames removed with a bolt cutter – he climbed into the bedroom (while) we were still fighting. It’s then that he hit me on the head down to the ground, I think it was with the bolt cutters or crowbar. I felt faint and concussed wanting to pass out. I prayed to our heavenly father God for strength,” she said.
“With renewed strength, I got up and fought him right back out of the window with the spear.
“It was then that he grabbed it and stabbed me in the groin,” Amanda continued.
She said that at this time the suspects had opened a big enough space so probably more than one could enter the huge gap.
Amanda said that the ones fighting her through the window shouted to the ones fighting Tim at the back door to come gain entry at the window, which they did.
“Knowing that all four of them were now in the house I ran to the back door, now totally open, and as help was not arriving I ran to the neighbour calling pleading for help… I ran back home as fast as I could. I was so worried about Tim,” Amanda said.
She said that running to the neighbour and back took about five minutes.
“Upon arrival, Tim was fine and they had all gone, taking with them two big-screen TVs and one small one, a laptop, two phones, a remote and a music box,” Amanda said.
She said it was then that the farm watch arrived. People came and checked on them and gave chase with the help of a drone and much teamwork.
Amanda said that two suspects were found walking a detour through the sugar cane fields when a farm worker told the farmer two people were carrying two tables on their heads. It was then that they were apprehended.
“Apparently, there were six of them. Four breaking in here and two waiting in a car just below the cottage to pick up the stolen goods,” Amanda said.
“They were also apprehended later by the quick action of the farm watch and I believe the car was impounded of which a gun was found inside.
“They retrieved the TVs but broken. The smaller TV still missing as well as one phone.
“Police arrived four hours later at about 7am only. They took a statement from Tim only and not me,” Amanda continued.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said that Bishopstowe police are investigating a case of house robbery following an incident that occurred at a farm on August 17, 2023.
"It is alleged that four unknown suspects entered the premises, assaulted the victims and took some of their belongings," Netshiunda said.
Reacting to the incident, AfriForum’s community safety spokesperson Jacques Broodryk said: “The chanting of ‘Kill the Boer, kill the Farmer’ is nothing else but the incitement of violence against a minority group. I can only assume that those who try to tell us that the song is just a metaphor, actually support these attacks.
“AfriForum has 168 neighbourhood and farm watches countrywide with roughly 11 000 trained volunteers. We will continue to expand these safety networks and continue to train more volunteers to fight back against this scourge of cowardly attacks. I applaud Mrs Platt for her bravery.”
Given the chanting of ‘Kill the Boer, kill the Farmer’ during a farm attack almost three weeks before, AfriForum will appear in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on September 4 to appeal the Equality Court’s decision that the “Kill the Boer” chant is not hate speech.
AfriForum’s campaign officer for strategy and content Ernst van Zyl added: “As the evidence keeps mounting that chants like ‘Kill the Boer’ in fact have horrific real-world effects, it becomes increasingly difficult for those excusing it to not appear apathetic to violent crime victims when they happen to be farmers.”
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