A white South African farmer has described a horrific home invasion in which attackers placed his testicles in bolt cutters while mutilating part of his wife’s nipples.
Les Brett and his wife, Natasha, were attacked on November 1 after three armed men entered their property about 37 miles north of Johannesburg.
The masked assailants stripped the couple, beat them, scalded them with boiling water and subjected them to at least three hours of torture as they demanded the keys to a safe. They also repeatedly threatened to rape Mrs Brett, 55.
Mr Brett, a former soldier and police officer, has now disclosed further details of the attack at the couple’s game farm in Broederstroom, in North West province.
Speaking to South African newspaper The Citizen, the 66-year-old said he and his wife had been “put through hell” and explained how the ordeal unfolded.
“They tied our hands behind our backs, bound our feet together, blindfolded us and stuffed rags into our mouths. Then they began beating us both severely,” he said.
“They kept demanding the safe keys and money. After about half an hour, one of them removed my blindfold so I could see Natasha beside me. Our clothes had been cut away, and they wanted me to watch as they used a knife and tin snips around her nipples.
“They had bolt cutters as well and put my testicles inside them as a clear threat. I told them where the safe key was, and they completely ransacked the house.”
Les Brett and his wife Natasha suffered hours of brutal torture during a raid of their game farm
The attackers ripped the clothes off Mrs Brett and cut her nipples with a knife and tin snips
The attackers then focused on money, repeatedly asking where the 1 million rand was. Mr Brett said he told them the couple did not have millions, but the violence continued.
“They threw us into the safe, boiled water on the stove and poured it over us while demanding millions,” he said. “I told them again that we did not have that kind of money.
“I offered them my cars and even said I would withdraw money from an ATM, but they refused. They said they wanted a million.”
Mr Brett also alleged that the attackers forced his own AK-47 into his mouth and pulled the trigger. The weapon failed to fire.
“I should have died, but the rifle had been faulty for years. It never fires the final round, and there was only one bullet left,” he said.
“It did not go off. Otherwise, I would be dead. Natasha and I survived by the grace of God.”
The couple were eventually rescued when an armed local patrol guard arrived to investigate a problem with a water pump that Mr Brett had previously reported.
Mr Brett said the attackers shut the safe door and fled, leaving the couple trapped inside. His wife was able to free herself and call for assistance.
Mr Brett suffered injuries to his head and knees from the bolt cutters and was also left with a fractured hip.
The robbers took seven firearms, two mobile phones and a laptop, he said. They left behind expensive cameras, jewellery, wallets and the couple’s vehicles.
“I believe this was a targeted farm attack. Nobody is tortured for three hours, scalded with boiling water and threatened with sexual violence during an ordinary house robbery, especially when so much is left behind,” he said.
The assault is the latest in a series of violent attacks on farmers that has unsettled South Africa and intensified an international political debate.
Some members of South Africa’s minority white Afrikaner population say they face violent persecution and the widespread seizure of white-owned land.
Les and Natasha. The attack on their farm was the latest in a string of incidents
Three men suspected of raiding the farm in Broederstroom, North West province
The South African government, however, says the attacks are part of the country’s wider violent-crime problem and are not evidence of a campaign targeting white South Africans.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: Neighbor of Slain New Jersey Therapist Recalls Chilling Last Contact With Her Husband
The issue has also been amplified by US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly claimed that white farmers are being persecuted and has offered refugee status to white South Africans.
Afrikaners are descended largely from Dutch and French settlers who arrived in South Africa during the 17th century. They are one of several white minority groups in the country, alongside South Africans of British descent.
Afrikaners played a central role in the apartheid system of racial segregation, which lasted from 1948 until 1994. That year, Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first Black president after the country’s first democratic elections open to all races.
Their association with apartheid continues to fuel some racial tensions, although Afrikaners, like most South Africans, have largely accepted the country’s multiracial democracy.
Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Arthur Adams condemned the attack and called on farmers to improve security at their homes and report suspicious behaviour.
Mr Brett is a former member of the Special Forces and Police Service. He has trained British armed forces personnel, HM Customs and Excise enforcement officers, and US Special Forces in bushcraft, tracking and survival skills.
More than 20 years ago, he founded Dung Beetle Bush School, an organisation established to help tackle poaching and support wildlife conservation.
A Hartbeespoortdam police spokesman said officers were investigating a house-robbery case following an incident at a Broederstroom residence in which three unidentified suspects allegedly robbed a couple, aged 66 and 58, of firearms, electronic equipment and other valuables.
Mr Brett is a former member of the Special Forces and Police Service
“According to the information available, three unidentified African men wearing face masks allegedly entered the house through an unlocked wooden sliding door on Sunday, November 1, 2026,” the spokesman said.
The suspects allegedly demanded money, claiming they knew one of the occupants operated a kiosk at a nearby resort.
They later gained access to a safe and stole seven firearms of various calibres, along with ammunition. The weapons were reportedly licensed in the male victim’s name.
Police also said the man was believed to operate an anti-poaching school.
The suspects allegedly took two mobile phones, a laptop, cash and other personal belongings before escaping.
“During the incident, the male victim suffered minor injuries. He reportedly sought medical treatment after being threatened and allegedly having hot water poured over him by the suspects in an attempt to force him to provide information,” the spokesman said.
The attack came after two other violent farm incidents in South Africa in less than a week.
Donovan Marx was attacked at his home in Syferfontein, near Ventersdorp in North West province, last month after three armed men wearing balaclavas confronted a farmworker.
The men reportedly approached the worker while he was mowing the lawn and demanded to know the owner’s whereabouts before tying his hands and feet with cable ties.
When 50-year-old Mr Marx arrived in his red Isuzu pickup truck, two of the attackers allegedly approached and shot him in the upper body.
He was dragged inside the house, restrained, stabbed repeatedly and assaulted. The attackers then allegedly cut off both of his ears.
The gang searched the property, stole three firearms from a safe and escaped in Mr Marx’s vehicle.
The farmworker freed himself and raised the alarm, while Mr Marx was taken to Mediclinic Potchefstroom in serious condition.
He underwent emergency surgery. His family later said part of his large intestine had been removed and doctors had been unable to save his ears.
Police arrested two suspects in the Ventersdorp area on Saturday and detained three more in Promosa, near Potchefstroom, on Sunday, November 1.
In a separate incident, a homeowner in Hammanskraal was beaten and forced to open his safe during an early-morning raid at a property in Vasfontein last Tuesday.
Police spokesman Captain Johan van Dyk said three men broke into the house, fired a shot and struck the homeowner on the forehead before fleeing with cash and household goods.
