Sue Howarth, 64, was British woman is killed and her husband left for dead after South African robbe

killed and her husband Robert Lynn, 66, survived

• Couple were asleep at their farm in South Africa when three men broke in

• Were attacked with a blowtorch at their remote home, 150 miles from Pretoria

• The couple were then shot before the thugs dumped their bodies by a roadside

A British woman has been horrifically murdered and her husband left for dead in an attack described as 'pure and hateful and pointless torture'.

The couple were asleep in bed on their farm in South Africa when three men broke in through a window at 2am and tied the terrified Brits up.

The gang, who struck at their home in Dullstroom in Mpualanga province, refused to believe Sue Howarth, 64, and husband Robert Lynn, 66, did not have a safe.

The pair were tied up and attacked with a blowtorch, screaming for help as the men burned them with the weapon at their remote farm 150 miles from Pretoria.

Police said the couple were put through a horrific ordeal lasting several hours, in which they were savagely beaten around the head and burned again and again before they were later both shot.

Sue Howarth was brutally murdered by a gang of men who broke into her home in South Africa

Eventually the three men bundled the married couple into their own pick up truck, with plastic bags over their heads and tape around their necks.

They were driven off before Sue was shot twice in the head and Robert in the neck, as the thugs dumped the couple by the roadside to die on a mountain pass.

Sue had a plastic bag jammed down her throat and Robert had a bag tied round his neck to strangle him.

But incredibly retired Robert survived the brutal attack and managed to free himself and find his terribly injured wife nearby.

Police said she was unrecognisable from her injuries and was in a coma. Her husband raised the alarm she was rushed to hospital but died 48 hours later.

She had multiple fractures to her her skull and gunshot wounds and horrific burns from the blowtorch to her breasts.

It is thought her life support machine was switched off on Tuesday morning, after doctors said her horrific injuries were not survivable.

Her husband was treated in the intensive care unit but incredibly has survived and has returned home.

It was the third violent farm attack in the province this month.

Close friend Claire Taylor invited local paper the Middleburg Observer into the hospital to photograph Sue in bed to show the full horror of what local farmers are going through. She said: 'She would have wanted the world to see what happened to her. What they did to her'.

Border collie lover Sue who is originally from Southsea, Hants, was extremely well-known in sheepdog trial circles and had three rescue collie dogs of her own.

They are believed to have lived in the area for over 20 years and although they have different surnames were married.

The couple lived on a farm called Marshland with their three border collie rescue dogs.

Provincial police spokesman Brigadier Leonard Hlathis said: 'They were sleeping on Sunday when they were attacked by three men. This was violent and horrific attack and we are searching for those responsible.'

He said terrified Sue was tied and burned with a blow torch and shot and beaten and that her husband was also burned and stabbed repeatedly.

Doctors treated him for multiple knife wounds to his stomach hands and neck, and a bullet remains in his neck where he was shot by one of the gang.

Hi-Tech Security Highlands manager Mr Johan Pierterse said the gang broke in through a window and tied up the couple, demanding cash.

'They demanded money but could not find any in the house' he said.

He said the attackers then forced the couple into their own bakkie and drove them to a point on the R37 between Belfast and Stoffberg.

Mr Pierterse said they threw Robert into bushes with a blindfold over his eyes. After their attackers left, he moved towards the road where he found Sue.

The couple lived at a remote farm 150 miles from Pretoria, with their three border collie dogs.

She was near naked and was later found to have a plastic bag in her throat. A passing car saw the couple and stopped to help them.

A Hi-Tech Security vehicle rushed to the scene and an officer Mr Johan Bezuidenhout removed the bag from her throat.

He said: 'We arranged for an ambulance and notified the police. Howarth was already in a coma and Lynn was in a state of shock and badly injured'.

The couple was taken to a local hospital in Belfast and then transported to MidMed Hospital in Middelburg.

Mr Nico Uys, chairman of the Dullstroom Farmers Association and chairman of TLU Mpumalanga Safety, told Lowvelder newspaper that both were shot

Mr Uys said they were no longer active farmers, werepensioners living on the farm. He added that it was clearly a planned attack.

Their blue Nissan bakkie was found abandoned in Middleburg.

Distraught Robert has been discharged from hospital and returned to their farm and told his local paper the Middleburg Observer he had to 'face the demons'.

He said: 'I have to come to terms with losing my best friend.

'I woke up because the dogs were barking and there was a racket at the bedroom window. After I stood up, I heard glass breaking.

'I suppose that is when they started shooting at us. I assumed they missed. They were wearing balaclavas and attacked us'.

He was pistol whipped with a gun and ordered to lie down.

Robert said: 'They kept on asking where the money is. I told them that we don't keep money but they would not believe me.'

He said gave them a couple of hundred Rand he had in a money clip and his bank cards, telling his attackers that they will be able to withdraw R1000 per day from it.

Robert was taken to the living room and was covered with a blanket.

Shortly after his attackers started burning him with a blow torch on his chest and legs.

Three men broke into the bungalow through a window and tied the terrified Brits up.

His hands were tied with baling twine and robbers then started cutting him with a knife in order to get him to confess to keeping more money or a gunsafe somewhere.

He said:'They were looking for things we just don't have.

'I said to them that whoever gave them their information, gave them the wrong information. One of them replied with 'No they didn't.'

Robert kept on calling to his wife in the bedroom who he last saw lying in a sleeping position but said she did not answer.

He said: 'The small dark one, who seemed to be the leader, smacked me over the head with his gun and told me to shut up.'

Robert was put in the back of their Nissan Hardbody double cab and his attackers pulled a black bag over his head.

He said:'I suppose they wanted to suffocate me but I managed to bite a tiny hole through the bag through which I could breathe.'

He heard his wife moaning as she was thrown into the loading bin of their bakkie.

The attackers struggled for a while to reverse the vehicle out of the parking.

He said:'I thought we were going to Dullstroom to withdraw money. But then they turned towards Belfast.

The attackers drove on back roads through Belfast and Siyathuthuka and onto the road towards Stoffberg.

He said:'They kept on stopping and going and when they stopped for good they pulled me out of the vehicle by my hair.'

The robbers walked with him into the field where he had to crawl through a barbed wire fence and was ordered to get on his knees.

He said:'That was the last thing I remember. I thought I was dead after that until I looked up and saw the stars.'

It took Robert some time to free his hands, after he crawled back to the road.

He said: 'When I got to the road, something told me to turn right. But left made more sense because it was downhill. I turned right.

'I was not steady on my feet so I crawled most of the way. I thought I heard a cow mooing. Later I realised that it was Susan moaning.

'I crossed the road, crawling most of the way. On the other side I saw Susan, lying in a ditch. Her hands tied behind her back. She was bleeding from her head.'

'I didn't know what to do. I could see that she was in a very bad state. I could sit with her but the best thing would be to try and get help.

'So I stood next to the road. Five trucks and two cars passed me hooting their horns as they did but they did not stop'.

His saviours were two friends in a bakkie, pulling a boat, who stopped as dawn broke.

Devestated Robert said:'Susan was a great girl. She had a great life just to end up in a ditch with her hands tied behind her back'.

She moved to Dullstroom in 1996 and started the Dullstroom Stables before the farm Marchlands where she was attacked became her home.

Her ashes will be flown to Southsea in England where she will be buried with her parents. She was an only child.

Meanwhile Robert Lynn says he will try to pick up the pieces in Dullstroom.

He said:'I am amazed how good people have been to me. But I will never be able to forget what evil people are capable of'.

Close friend Claire Taylor invited local paper the Middleburg Observer into the hospital to photograph Sue in bed to show the full horror of what local farmers are going through.

She said:'Sue is such a powerful person. She is so strong. She is straight shooter.

'She would have wanted the world to see what happened to her. What they did to her' she said in the intensive care unit while husband Robert was being treated 100 yards away in the surgical unit.

Tragically she never recovered from her coma and died on Tuesday morning.

Sue shared the farm with Claire and they both had a passion for Border Collies and are regular competitors in the South African Sheep Dog Trials.

Before settling in Dullstroom, Sue was at the head of a pharmaceutical company in Johannesburg. She kept her maiden hame after marrying Robert, who was an electrical engineer for Eskom.

A reward is being put together by friends of the couple to try and track down their evil attackers.

A spokesman for the Democratic Alliance said yesterday: 'Sue and husband Robert were overpowered and tortured and left left for dead.

'Since the beginning of February 30 farms have have been attacked and 15 people have lost their lives in farm attacks across the country.

'We simply cannot allow these horrendous acts to continue and or our rural communities to live in fear.

'We call on the Government to employ rural safety units to protect rural communities from rural crime'.

Col. Phela Mahlangu, head of the detectives at the Middelburg Cluster, said that a task team has been established to work on the case around the clock.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4252150/Woman-killed-husband-left-dead-South-Africa.html#ixzz4ZWFK8AbV

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