An elderly woman visiting the city from Durban will be spending the rest of her holiday in Netcare Christiaan Barnard Hospital’s intensive care unit after she was assaulted and robbed of her necklace in Sea Point last week.
85-year-old Joyce Maria Hansen travelled to the city to visit her goddaughter, who is in the country from the United States.
It is believed that she was walking to Our Lady of Good Hope Catholic Church in Sea Point when she was approached by men who snatched her gold chain around her neck with enough force to cause severe injuries as she fell backward and hit her head on the pavement.
Speaking to News24 on Friday, Melissa Phillips, the daughter of the victim, said that Hansen lost a significant amount of blood and was rendered unconscious for several minutes.
“The result of her falling backward and hitting her head on the ground caused bleeding and bruising [on] her brain, Phillips explained to the publication. “She had no cellphone, so we had no way of communicating with her because we assumed she would just come home straight after church.”
Later that evening, one of Hansen’s granddaughters was waiting for her at the holiday home when she realised that her grandmother had not returned from mass on Saturday.
Out of concern, the granddaughter went down to the building’s reception to ask the doorman to assist and was handed a note, which stated that Hansen had been attacked and was in the hospital.
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“We managed to get CCTV footage from the apartment building opposite the church – and, when I landed in Cape Town on Monday, after going to see my mom, I went to the apartment building to request if I could get the footage from the weekend. Luckily, the apartment building’s cameras were filming and managed to pick up the incident that happened to my mom,” Phillips continued.
She went on to say that the CCTV footage clearly showed four young men targeting her mother and spreading out strategically to attack her.
“My mom is doing okay, she doesn’t remember anything about the incident. She had to have eight stitches to her head and will be in hospital for another week because doctors said there were too many white blood cells in her brain, which needs to work away… even though she claims to be fine.”
“We are disgusted by the state of crime in the country, but this should serve as a warning that criminals don’t care how old you are… they will attack you if they feel you benefit them,” she said.
Meanwhile, provincial police spokesperson Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi confirmed the incident.
“We can confirm that numerous suspects were brought in for questioning, though no arrest was executed to date,” he said. “The investigating officer is pursuing all available leads in a bid to trace the suspects. The victim, however, could not be reached for a statement as she is receiving medical treatment.”
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