“That AK-47 has been faulty for the last two years. It never fires the last round. It didn’t go off, otherwise I would have been dead now,” Les Brett said according to The Citizen, after three armed men tortured him and his wife in a Broederstroom district farm cottage on November 1.
The attack unfolded at 7:30 p.m. when the intruders burst through a sliding door with military precision, according to Joburg ETC. The assailants immediately bound the couple’s hands and feet, blindfolded them, and stuffed rags into their mouths while demanding money and safe keys.
After roughly half an hour, the robbers removed Brett’s blindfold to force him to watch them torture his wife, Natasha, using knives and tin snips on her body. “They wanted me to see what they were doing to my wife. They were cutting around her nipples with a knife and tin snips. They also had a bolt cutter and put my testicles in it,” Les Brett said.
“I offered them my cars, but they didn't want the cars. They said they already had a car. I offered to go withdraw money at the ATM, but they didn't want that,” Les Brett said. Instead, the attackers threw the couple into a safe and poured boiling water on them during a three-hour ordeal.
The attackers ultimately placed Brett’s own AK-47 in his mouth and pulled the trigger, but the faulty weapon misfired. The armed men abruptly halted their assault and fled when a security guard on patrol approached the property to check on a water pump.
Natasha Brett managed to free herself and her husband after the intruders vanished. Brett walked to the main house on the game farm to call for help following the incident.
The couple sustained severe physical injuries during the attack. Brett suffered a fractured hip, alongside a smashed head and knee from being struck with bolt cutters.
The robbers stole seven firearms, two cellphones, and a laptop. However, they left behind other valuables on the property, including cameras worth over R200,000, jewellery, wallets, and vehicles.
Les Brett suffered a fractured hip and a smashed head and knee from being beaten with bolt cutters. Both victims also endured burns from boiling water poured over them while locked inside a safe.
The attack stopped when a security guard on patrol approached the property to check on a water pump. The sudden disturbance prompted the three armed men to close the safe door and flee the scene.
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