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Dog watches over dead master
17/11/2006 21:27 - (SA)
Danél Blaauw
Bloemfontein - Eugene Fourie, 56, and his wife Anne-Marie, 52, died in a hail of bullets - 11 shots - and their daughter received serious wounds.
Annerette Fourie, 32, is still fighting for her life in the Bloemfontein Medi-Clinic after the latest farm murder in the Free State.
She was believed to have been left for dead in the kitchen of their home after the attackers first shot her father and mother.
The Fourie couple were murdered on Thursday evening after dinner on their family farm, Rietfontein, in the Thaba Nchu district.
The Fourie couple was having dinner with their cousin, Louis Botha, on the homestead stoep.
Surprise attack
Botha left for his house, a short way from the house, at 21:00 when he heard the volley of shots.
Francois Koekemoer, Fourie's brother-in-law, said Botha immediately phoned the Verkeerdevlei police station.
"They were here in no time and found the bodies of my brother-in-law and his wife in the presence of Botha," he said.
According to sources Botha saw three or four people running away from the scene of the crime into the night.
It is believed that Fourie had left the house to have a cigarette in the garden when he was surprised by the murderers.
He collapsed at the front entrance after being shot seven times.
His packet of cigarettes was lying centimetres from his body.
His fox terrier dog, Doppies, was lying close to his body, appearing to be watching over him. Apparently Mrs Fourie and her daughter were first forced to open the safe before they were both shot in the chest by the murderers.
The murderers left them in the kitchen, believing they were dead, locked the door and escaped with three rifles, a pistol, three cellphones and an amount of cash.
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