If this story sounds somewhat mixed up, I apologise, my mind is still reeling. We are still dazed and frightened after a week after the ordeal. On the evening of Tuesday 2 December 2003 my husband and I sat down for dinner in our recently rented cottage in Bridle Park in Johannesburg. We were sitting on a couch with the TV on. This was just before 9 P.M.
Shortly before dishing up, I had heard our little dogs barking outside and they would not come in so I left the security gate open for them. They came inside not too long after and laid down on the couch opposite us. Suddenly I saw out of the corner of my eye, two people enter the kitchen : it was almost like a dream - they came swaggering in like you see tthem do it in the "gangsta rap" music videos  - as I stood up (I actually thought it was friends walking in!) the guy in the front stopped with his legs wide apart, drew up his arms together and aimed a gun at me. This is when I realised what was going on and I just ripped my glasses off and as I pushed myself down into sitting position back into the couch, the front guy took just a few large strides towards my little  barking dogs and kicked the one flying across the room. I said a silent "I'm sorry, Tilly, tonight I can't help you" and quickly grabbed a couch cushion and tried to cover my face and head.
The dogs were immediately silent - one ran outside and the other hid behind the couch. It was so quick and because I had jumped up from where my husband was sitting he couldn't see or comprehend what exactly was going on and that was when the guy launched over and kicked my husband, then he grabbed the dogs' blanket and wrapped this around his head so that he could not see or hear or speak.  Within seconds he was tied up at his wrists and legs, with his own belts. The other guy was ransacking the house and every now and again he would come out and ask where firearms were kept, if the alarm was working, there were three cell phones in our home so they insisted that there had to be another person and where or when was that person coming back. The one guy kept chewing, and I thought he was eating our supper.
Then he spat something out at me. They were getting angry because every question they asked my husband, he couldn't hear them properly and when he tried to answer, they couldn't understand him. We could hear him drinking the cold-drink which was on the small table in front of us. One of the men came to ask me about the safe and where were the keys and tried to get me to go to the bedroom to show him so I just pulled back and resisted and said no and then he saw my hands weren't tied so he took the steak knife and cut a lamp cord and tied my wrists.  Now my face was exposed so I opened my hands and covered my eyes. Then he threw a jacket over my head and proceeded to try and tie my legs so I said no, I cant breathe then he went off to continue ransacking the place. The whole time I was not sure if there were more than the two I saw entering the house.

They spoke to each other very little and mostly muttered to us about killing us if we were lying, they mentioned that they were "suffering", they kept on threatening to hurt us if we did not cooperate. They cleared the clothes from all cupboards and drawers and emptied it all into a duvet. They then cut every wire connected to a speaker, television and lamp and stuffed the stereos and stuff into bicycle bags. When they were almost ready they asked for the car keys - they did not want the Subaru, only the small Citi golf!  They wanted me to go with to show them the immobiliser or alarm so I just told them that there were only a gear lock and nothing else and felt the keys to show them which was for which lock, the same with the main exit gate key. The car was being loaded and one of them came back into the house and we could hear him take the video recorder as the television finally went silent - it was too heavy for him to carry or too big for the car. We could hear the drive way gate being opened and the car being reversed up the drive being revved and stalled all along, when suddenly one of the guys ran back in the house and muttered something about police and then there was more scuffling and the car stalled again and then there was silence. We took this chance to get untangled and untied and ran and shut the door and bolted it. We peered through the window and it was the security armed response company. 

 The guys had gotten away with only cell phones, cash and all jewellery. They left the car with all the other stuff. The house was trashed, what little clothing had been left had been stomped on, ornaments smashed, etc. The end of this ordeal was at 9:45 p.m. It was the maid and groom that had alerted security as they had seen the driver of the car was not me. The police came around later on.  We moved out most of our stuff the next day and that evening, the groom saw someone hiding in the long grass so he phoned security again. This time as the security drove down the driveway, the attackers opened fire on them. There was a gun-battle, nobody got injured and nobody was apprehended. All I could think of afterwards was why hadn't I closed the security gate? Security tried to comfort me by telling me that they would more than likely just have put their hands through with the gun or through a window while we were asleep and it would have been very similar. 

I think what we both did right was to keep still and as quiet as possible so as not to irritate them or threaten them. It was terrifying not knowing if we were going to be shot or have our throats slit, and when it was going to happen. It was horrific having no idea how many were actually around, not being able to plot or plan an escape because of not being able to see. We were incredibly lucky and are extremely grateful that we were not hurt. Our hearts go out to those families where things were far worse. 

Love, Noeleen and Graeme.

Further information in respect of this crime.

Unfortunately Bridle Park is just around ten kilometres from a squatter camp called Diepsloot which is growing daily still!  We'd only just moved into a rented cottage in August. In October, two burglars attempted to get into the main house on the property, whilst the maid and groom were sleeping in the house! They threw rocks through the windows and broke down the back door - luckily we managed to get Security down there pretty fast that night too!

We only have SA citizenship having lived in South Africa (Johannesburg) all our lives. It is upsetting to me because it was my dream to buy a small piece of land out there for my retirement, have one or two ponies roam around my field and settle down to watch the most awesome sunsets!  Now I don't even want to have a piece of that land to invest or re-sell!  I was driving to work this morning thinking again how terrible it must have been for those to have been hurt during a similar ordeal. And then I started thinking of a letter I am going to write our President - somehow I will have to keep the tone polite, I don't know if I will manage it....  Once written I will email you a copy.

I think back to all the places I have lived in Johannesburg and at every one we have had a burglary : Yeoville, Kensington, Fairland and now here!  There is no place safe. The company I work for, Standard Bank, ran a couple of sessions a few months ago, about security awareness, where they showed mock videos of car hijackings, which I was very grateful for as I must admit to having taken cognizance of at least one life saving tip and that was trying not to even peep or look at our attackers, covering my head and cowering. 

Two things I learnt, in hind-sight, is

a) never offer more than what the attackers ask for, for example, they wanted money which was in my purse.  I offered them my ATM cards which luckily they were not interested in - if they were, they would probably have insisted that I go with them to put in the PIN at the machine and thereafter who knows.... 

b) When the police and or security or whoever ask who rang the alarm/alerted security - just say you don't know!  Honestly, I am now so paranoid that I feel that there are always people in cahoots with the attackers and it is the heroes who will be aimed for next!

Anyhow, with a deep breath and a sceptical smile, we carry on, trying to be positive that this country and its people will grow stronger and fight this nonsense together one day... 

Regards,

Noeleen and Graeme.