Domestic worker stabs employer's daughter, robs house

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Durban - A domestic worker is being sought by police for allegedly stabbing her employee’s daughter in Pietermaritzburg. The incident happened on Patricia Road in the Chase Valley suburb on Wednesday. Police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala said the woman allegedly tied the 18-year-old girl to a chair, stabbed her with a pair of scissors and ransacked the home before fleeing with household items. Michele Coyne, the grandmother, said the domestic worker also worked for another family in Prestbury and was from Zimbabwe. She said her granddaughter had received stitches to the wound and was traumatised.

Coyne said the domestic worker had been employed for almost a year on a part time basis.

"The family were emigrating to England and in good standing we paid her three months salary in advance and a letter with a good job reference. She thanked my daughter. We are not sure if others were involved in the robbery. We want others to beware of these type of incidents,"she said.

At 11am on Wednesday, the domestic worker called Coyne's grand daughter to the room under the pretext that a shelve had fallen down and she needed help.

"She was studying for her matric exams in another room. When my granddaughter got to the room to assist she was grabbed from behind and thrown on the bed. A scuffle ensued.My granddaughter bit her in an attempt to get away. However she was overpowered and when she drew a scissors my granddaughter covered her face. She was stabbed on the hand," Coyne said.

The teenager was tied up and a T-shirt was stuffed into her mouth.

She managed to break free and phone her parents and locked herself in her bedrooom until help arrived.

By then the domestic worker had fled the scene.

The family are still doing an inventory of what was taken from the house.

"She was someone they trusted for a year. Two guards were placed outside the house last night because the family were in shock.

The family also has two other sons who were at school when the incident transpired.

Townhill police station is investigating a case of assault and robbery.

In a separate incident nearby, a 66-year-old woman was accosted by four men armed with knives and a fire in her home on Townbush Road in Chase Valley.

It is alleged that on Thursday a woman (66) was allegedly accosted by four males armed with knives and a firearm at her home on Townbush Road in Chase Valley.

Gwala said she was allegedly tied with a rope and duct tape.

"Suspects fled the scene with her brush cutter and a pellet gun. A case of house robbery was opened at TownHill police station for investigation,"Gwala said.

Daily News