Couple catches neighbors after robbery: ‘Must have been terrible’

Margriet Siebers from Grave sighs deeply. The gruesome robbery on Thursday morning on her neighbors does not let go of her. She was having breakfast with her husband Harrie on Thursday morning when the front doorbell rang around nine o’clock. The neighbor was at the door. His whole face was broken. He was covered in blood,” says Margriet. Her husband adds: “He looked like a monster, he was beaten like that.”

The police were immediately called. While neighbor Jaap told his story to the police on the phone, Margriet went looking for her neighbour, Annet.

“I entered the house. That was very exciting. I thought: I shouldn’t touch anything. I didn’t know what I would encounter. Maybe she was injured or maybe dead.” Margriet called the neighbor’s name and heard her upstairs. There she found a woman in a confused state. Margriet took care of her all day. The neighbor had to go to the hospital by ambulance.

The neighbor was badly beaten, it looked like a monster

It must have been terrible hours for their neighbours, Margriet thinks. “The neighbor was at the door at nine o’clock, but the young offenders already entered their house at seven.”

The robbers demanded money and they wanted the keys to the safe and the car. When that didn’t go fast enough, they beat up Jaap enormously. “They hit his face with a gun and he had a stab wound in his shoulder.” According to Margriet, the perpetrators took the safe and perhaps also the car, because it is no longer in the street.

The neighbor has been hospitalized and he has already had surgery. According to Margriet, things are getting better again, but his eye sockets are broken. He had surgery on that and they straightened his nose again. The neighbor is taken care of elsewhere, because the police are still investigating traces in their house.

His eye sockets are broken and his nose is straightened.

Margriet and Harrie Siebers feel very sorry for the neighbours. It’s the second time they’ve done this. A few years ago, the couple was also robbed when they still lived in Schaijk. “We’re glad we were able to help,” says Harrie. “That’s what neighbors are for. But we have to process it.”

Margriet couldn’t sleep all night. She got out of bed and sat down in the living room to make sure she didn’t hear anything suspicious. “I have become very restless, but I have to get over that again. And I will succeed,” she says bravely. “Because otherwise they win. I don’t let those kinds of guys take away my happiness. I didn’t think so!”

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