Cops, family launch search for abducted gran, 71, after robbery

An anxious search is on for abducted 71-year-old Sterkstroom grandmother Denise Bartlett, who was forced into the boot of her car and driven off by two robber thugs who attacked her family at home on Monday.

Her daughter, DA Enoch Mgijima councillor Lindy Bartlett-Haggard, said late yesterday: “The car was found at the Amberdale crossing three kilometres outside of Komani this morning. There was no sign of my mother.”

Haggard said the robbers had not communicated with the family.

Her mother was wearing shorts, a shirt and sandals. “With this cold weather today she can get cold.”

Komani police have appealed to the public for assistance.

Komani cluster commander Major-General Funeka Siganga asked people to call 086-001-0111.

His spokeswoman Captain Namhla Mdleleni said Bartlett was taken at 7pm on Monday.

“She was with her granddaughter when two armed men entered their house. They attacked them, assaulted them and took an undisclosed amount of money. They took her and used her lime-green Chevrolet car to get away,” she said.

Mdleleni said the police had formed a task team for the search. “A case of kidnapping and house robbery has been opened.”

Family and friends took to social media to spread the word, pleading with the public to call Lindy Bartlett-Haggard on 082-398-4367 or Jayme Haggard on 078-264-5046.

The family own a filling station in the Eastern Cape dorp.

Haggard said the thugs had demanded “the money”.

She said her mother Denise was with her granddaughter and the granddaughter’s boyfriend.

The young man noticed two armed men hiding under a table.

“They got out and pointed a gun at them demanded money. They beat them and tied them. When I arrived with my elder daughter they took my phone and ordered us to go to the toilet or they will shoot my mother,” she said.

They were locked in the toilet. The attackers left with the money and some meat. “They forced my mother into the boot. My daughter used her phone which she’d kept in her bra to call the police who arrived about an hour later. The men had already gone,” she said.

She said she feared for her mother and did not know what the thugs might have done to her.

Captain Mdleleni confirmed that Bartlett’s car was found in the early hours yesterday. — thembiles@dispatch.co.za