Free State farm attacks – updates

Summary: Four black males admitted to the cruel assaults against 83-year-old Ben Buys and daughter Louisa, Irene smallholding 9 Nov 2009;  Heuningspruit FS police station commander Captain Thenjiwe Khumbeni openly took sides against arrested farmer Chris Grobler and foreman Eugene Lloyd: now the assault charges against the two Afrikaners have been dropped…

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Self-admitted attackers of Ben Buys, 83 and daughter Louisa, 40 face 15 years in jail each

Bloemfontein – June 19 2010 – Four black males stand trial in the regional court for the violence-driven armed robbery of 83-year-old Afrikaner smallholder Ben Buys and his daughter Louisa, 40 on 9 November 2009 at their smallholding in Keerom Street next to the Irene-shopping centre.  In the dock were Peter Langa (18), Samuel Jacobo (19), Lucky Motsukunyane (18) en Itumeleng Hlakane (20), who admitted the charges to magistrate Marina Voges

Public prosecutor Ms Charn Engelbreg said it wasn’t necessary to use such cruel force against the elderly smallholder and his unarmed daughter inside their home, ‘where they are supposed to be safe’. “The telephone wire was ripped out and the victims later had to seek help on foot. These armed attacks against families now happen on a daily bases and is a shock to the community. It’s usually older people who are attacked like this – and the four accused men’s youth is no excuse,’ she said.

“They were old enough to plan their crime in meticulous detail.’ In their plea-explanation the four men described that they had lain in ambush waiting for Mr Buys and his daughter to return from a shop. 'When the daughter saw them she started screaming; Langa caught her, and sprayed her with her own pepper-spray, while Jacobo took away the mother’s pepper-spray.  Motsukunyane said they broke a window-pane in a door to gain access. When Mr Buys asked what was going on,  Jacobo pulled the old man through the broken window and beat him up with a brook-stick. Jacobo and Hlakane then locked up the couple and their daughter in a bedroom and stashed their loot in large bags before fleeing with it. The sold all their loot – cellphones mostly, but kept a stolen chicken for themselves to eat, said Motsukunyane.  Andrew du Preez is the pro-bono representative for  Langa and Jacobo; Mr Hanno Bekker is the legal counsel for Motsukunyane and Hlakane.

Mr Buys and his daughter required medical treatment to stitch up the wounds on their heads and bodies and also suffered bad bruises while they tried to ward off the blows being delivered by the attackers’ ‘hard objects’. Mrs Buys did not sustain serious physical injuries. http://www.volksblad.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Rowers-moontlik-15-jaar-tronk-toe-na-wrede-aanval-20100618

Assault charges dropped against Kroonstad farmer Chris Grobler and foreman Eugene Lloyd – lack of evidence

010-06-16 Volksblad journalist Johan Brits reports from Koppies magistrate’s court  in the Free State that charges were dropped against Kroonstad farmer Chris Grobler, 23 and his foreman Eugene Lloyd because it could not be proven that they had assaulted and injured a suspected farm-attacker  Leeu Monyamane, 43, who lodged the charges against the agriculturalists after they had disarmed him and handed him over into SAPS custody.

Brits reports that the ‘State was unable to prove beyond reasonable doubt’ that Grobler and Lloyd had assaulted Monyamane during the citizen’s arrest in March.” Magistrate Neels de la Rey then withdrew the charges. The farmer’s father Christo Grobler told Volksblad earlier that his son had called the SAPS to his farm when Monyama, a former worker, had made trouble on his farm Labri. The next evening Monyamane returned, looking for trouble again – and pulled out a knife, stabbing towards Grobler junior. However the young farmer had taken the knife away from the worker by tossing him on the ground. During the fall Monyamane broke his had and injured some ribs. ,Monyamane then lodged charges against Grobler jr. at the Heuningspruit police station and the two white men were arrested, spent the night in the Koppies police cells and were released on R500 bail each the next day. During their night in detention, the Heuningspruit police station commander Captain Thenjiwe Khumbeni had taken sides against the Afrikaners and openly supported a large assembled crowd from the local community who showed up to demonstrate. The public prosecutor was Ms Adele Lekgetho. http://www.volksblad.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Boer-voorman-vrygespreek-20100616