[imagesource: Google Maps]

An elderly woman was allegedly robbed by four men while walking next to the Good Hope Catholic Church in Sea Point (pictured above) last week.

It is reported that the suspects snatched a gold chain from the 85-year-old lady’s neck, causing her to fall backwards and hit her head.

Joyce Maria Hansen had come to Cape Town from Durban to visit her goddaughter, who is in the country from the United States.

Her daughter, Melissa Phillips, told News24 that she lost a significant amount of blood and was rendered unconscious for a significant moment.

Joyce will now have to spend the rest of her holiday in Netcare Christiaan Barnard Hospital’s intensive care unit after the brutal attack, notes Cape Town ETC.

“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.

Image: Joyce and her necklace, Image supplied to News24

“She had no cellphone, so we had no way of communicating with her because we assumed she would just come home straight after church.”

As soon as one of Joyce’s granddaughters realised that she had not come home after Saturday mass, she went down to look for her grandmother and was given a note at the building reception saying that Joyce had landed in hospital:

“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 said the footage captured the four young men spreading out strategically to attack her mother:

“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.

Melissa said her mom is doing alright, having had eight stitches to her head. She said Joyce doesn’t remember the attack and will need to stay in the hospital for a little longer to make a full recovery.

IOL reported that police spokesperson Captain Nowonga Sukwana said four suspects aged between 22 and 34 had been arrested and should have appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

[source:capetownetc]