Dad 'beaten to death like dog'

2008-11-21 09:15

André Damons

Pretoria - The Red Ants apparently killed a man by beating him to death "like a dog" after he came to rescue of his wife in Eden Park in Alberton on the East Rand.

The group of Red Ants beat Alfred Ngubene, 34, a father of three, with iron bars and crowbars when he wanted to find out why they had attacked his wife Ayanda, 25, residents said.

The Red Ants were in Eden Park to guard RDP houses and to prevent people from illegally moving in or damaging them.

They apparently discovered on Thursday morning that barbed wire that they'd erected the previous night, had been removed. They apparently blamed Ayanda. Alfred was on his way to work, when his wife called him and said she was being attacked.

When he arrived on the scene and tried talking to the Red Ants, he too was attacked. He tried running away and even tried hiding in the home of his sister, Fakazile Mobeng, 33.

Alfred apparently fired two warning shots.

No regard for children

"It was bad. Nobody should die like this. They beat him to death like a dog and kept op hitting him, even when he told them he didn't want to fight," said Gabriel Vusi Buthelezi.

Alfred's father Joseph, 55, said on Thursday he did not have words to describe his son's death. "I feel nothing. I don't know what to say."

A shocked Mobeng spoke about the incident. "They destroyed my house and didn't care about my children. They just kept hitting."

"They threw, beat and hit. We went with him to help, but they started chasing us. They don't care about children and even threw stones at us while our children were running with us," said Veronica Pantry, an eyewitness.

Police spokesperson captain Mega Ndobe said they were still busy gathering information and could not yet arrest anyone.

- Beeld