Zambia World Wide

I ran across our side lawn towards the belt of young Blue Gum trees that grow between the two houses, and as I neared the Engelbrechts driveway I saw a figure approaching me through the trees, and thinking it was Koos Engelbrecht I called out “ What has happened Mr. Engelbrecht?”. The man didn’t reply, instead a very bright light was suddenly switched on full into my face, and blinded me for a moment. From the position of the light it appeared to be fixed to the man’s forehead. I tried to shield my eyes with my right hand, and suddenly I was violently grasped by the right shoulder, and a gun was pushed into the middle of my back. The man appeared to be left handed as he had approached me from the right side, and was grasping my shoulder with his right hand. He didn’t say anything to me, but pushed me forward through the trees and onto the road. I first saw Mrs. Engelbrecht standing in the middle of the road with a man on the either side of her, both being armed, and about 8’ away I could see Mr. Engelbrecht sitting hunched over with his back against their garden fence, and blood running down the side of his face, and I then realized it was he who was doing the moaning. Standing close up on either side of him were another two men, one a  very well built man about 5’9/5’10 with a round face and bulgy eyes, the other man had a woolen stocking cap on his head and a short wispy type of beard. These two men were also armed, and the one with the beard was pointing what appeared to me to be a sten gun at koos. The other man hit koos across the side of his head with either the gun he was carrying, or a piece of wood and I shouted out “what the hell are you doing to him, can’t you see he is helpless?” The man guarding me had released me by then but was still pointing the gun at me, and I ran across the road to Koos and asked him if he was alright. He appeared to be in a dazed condition, but he replied “I don’t know what they want Mrs. Gammon.” I then realized that there were five men all armed, grouped around the three of us, and that there was a two toned car parked well off the road under the trees, and facing up the road. During all this time Mrs. Engelbrecht hadn’t said a word, and she just stood there with her arms hanging down at her sides, and she looked as if she was in shock, but didn’t appear to be injured. She didn’t even seem to realize that I was there.

The men with me had still not said anything, but he motioned me away with his gun. I walked a few feet away to the other side of the road and then he said just one word “lie”. I just stood there, and again he said it I replied “I won’t bloody well lie down, I’ll sit but I won’t lie”. And I did so. I thought he intended to shoot me while I was lying down as I was then positive we were going to be killed. The two men with koos then started kicking him from side to side and he fell over, and they turned him onto his stomach and still went on kicking him. The other two men started pulling Mrs. Engelbrecht along the road towards the car, and Mr. Engelbrecht saw them and shouted to out to me. “go with them Mrs. Gammon, don’t let my wife go alone”, so I got up and told the man with me I wanted to go with the other lady, and he let me go along behind her, but he still had his gun in my back. They got her to the car and opened the back door, and I could still hear her telling them “I’ve got about K40. In the store and there’s beer there also.” They pushed her into the back of the car, and then changed their minds and pulled her out again, and both of us were taken back to where Mr. Engelbrecht was lying. I then saw that the two men with him were tying his hands and feet behind his back and they finished off by pulling his arms back as far as they would go and tying his hands and feet together. The big man had a wooden fencing plank which he had picked up from the side of the road, and was hitting Koos with it while the others did the tying up. By this time he seemed to be unconscious as he wasn’t even moaning.