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Farmer: I'm in trouble
16/11/2006 09:16 - (SA)
Yolande Hayward
Grahamstown - Alleged murderer Fanie van Aardt apparently told Vuyisile
Mabomba, 30, one of his employees, "I'm in big shit" after the death of a
15-year-old boy on his farm.
Van Aardt appeared in the high court on a charge of murder after he
allegedly assaulted Elliot Tandisizwe Magabane to such an extent that he
later died as a result of his injuries.
The accused was under the impression that Magabane had stolen his money.
According to testimony, the accused hit the boy several times, strangled
him, stepped on him and hit him with the fist and a walking stick. The boy
couldn't walk afterwards and was left where he had collapsed for the rest of
the night. Two workers apparently covered him with a blanket and the accused
took him to the home of one of the farmworkers the next day.
Mabomba testified that Van Aardt had told him on March 2 that he was in big
trouble and that the boy did not make it.
"He said we had to take care of his farm, as he didn't know what would
happen to him."
Van Aardt in his plea explanation admitted that he had hit the boy several
times and had beaten him with a walking stick, but denied that he was
responsible for his death. He said the boy had run away after the incident,
and that he had picked him up next to a road on the next day.
Mandla Mehlo, 15, the dead boy's friend, testified on Wednesday that the
accused had told him to throw the blanket, with which the boy had been
covered overnight, into the river.
Inspector Johannes Botha, a police official from the detective branch in
Somerset-East and a friend of the accused, also testified on Wednesday.
He said Van Aardt called him on his private line about 03:15 on March 2 and
asked him to come to the farm. The accused allegedly told him that somebody
who had been "punished" had died on his farm. "I told him to call the
detective on standby and gave him the number," Botha testified.
- Die Burger Oos
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