Staff Reporter
Five farmers escaped murder charges but were recently convicted of common assault and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm by the Free State High Court sitting in Parys after they severely beat two farm workers who had asked their employer for their salaries.
The incident took place at Kockrust Farm in the small farming town, in the north-eastern Free State, on January 6 2016.
National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson Phaladi Shuping said in a statement released Tuesday that Judge Corne van Zyl found Boeta van der Westhuizen, 53, and Anton Loggenberg, 53, guilty of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and common assault.
Loedie van der Westhuizen was found guilty on two counts of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Cornelius Loggenberg, 23, and Miela Jansen van Vuuren, 26, were each found guilty on one count of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The sixth accused, Hendrik Prinsloo, who was a police officer at the time of the incident, was found not guilty on all counts.
According to evidence presented in court, the two farm workers, Simon Tjixa, 35, and Simon Jubeba, 29, went to the residence of Loedie va der Westhuizen, the father of Boeta van der Westhuizen, to claim their salaries as they alleged he had not paid them their salaries for November 2015.
“Upon reaching Loedie van der Westhuizen’s residence, a confrontation ensued resulting in Van der Westhuizen alerting the Parys security company of an attack on his farm,” said Shuping in the statement.
“This was done through activating an alarm system. When the alarm went off, it also alerted neighbouring farmers who converged at the scene. A group of local farmers tracked down and confronted Tjixa and Jubeba, about 8km from the farm,” he added.
The court heard that the farmers assaulted the two men, leaving them with serious injuries before handing them to the police.
Tjixa was admitted at Parys Provincial Hospital and Jubeba was transported to Pelonomi Hospital in Bloemfontein.
Jubeba was declared dead on arrival and Tjixa died later.
The state however failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused should be found guilty on the two counts of murder.
Judge Van Zyl eventually found the farmers guilty of common assault and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, saying these were the more competent verdicts.
The five will be sentenced on August 24.