A couple who were brutally beaten with steel pipes and burnt with a hot laundry iron during a farm robbery outside Kimberley in the Northern Cape are recuperating in hospital.

Piet Els‚ 86‚ and Rikkie Alsemgeest‚ 66‚ were attacked by four men in the early hours of Wednesday.

The robbers fled with Krugerrands‚ diamonds‚ jewellery and their car at sunrise.

Family friend Ruhan Swanepoel said: “There were four robbers. They gained entry through the back door.

“They disconnected the electricity before entering the house. Immediately when they got into the house the generators went on‚ the robbers then went to switch that off also.”

The couple‚ left in the dark‚ initially thought that cats living on the property were causing a commotion.

“The robbers then went into the bedroom and attacked the couple. They forced him to open the safe but he couldn’t open it because he was so dazed by the blows to his head‚” Swanepoel said.

Els is a prominent businessman from Kimberley who owns various properties and a game farm.

Swanepoel said Alsemgeest was burnt on her head with an iron and Els on his feet.

“But he was so rattled by the attack that he couldn’t open the safe. They used a grinder to gain entry into the safe. They stole jewellery‚ Krugerrands‚ diamonds‚ cash and they took his car‚” he said. The vehicle was later found abandoned.