2 held for killing of farmer
2005-12-30 13:15
Bethlehem - Police have arrested two men for the murder of Bethlehem farmer Wikus Stoffberg, earlier this week.
Constable Christopher Mophiring said the two apparently had a cellphone that had been stolen from Stoffberg's wife.
They are due to appear in Lindley magistrate's court on Tuesday.
Stoffberg, 51, was murdered on his farm, Osplaat, on Tuesday, allegedly by two former employees.
The men were arrested on Thursday night in the Ntha area outside Lindley after a tip off.
Stoffberg and his 44-year-old wife were attacked while travelling in their bakkie on the farm.
It is believed the men grabbed Stoffberg, pointed a gun at him and dragged him out of his bakkie.
One of the men shot him and dragged him into a donga next to the farmstead.
Tied up his wife
A photo in Beeld newspaper on Wednesday showed Stoffberg's body lying next to an embankment among trees. Visible were his shirt, a pair of jeans and socks. His shoes appeared to be missing.
Mophiring said the attackers took Stoffberg's wife to the farmhouse which they searched, stealing two firearms.
They tied her hands with rope, forced her inside the bakkie and left.
"On their way toward the tarred road of the farm the woman managed to push one of the suspects on the passenger seat and fell out of the moving bakkie," Mophiring said.
She was treated for minor injuries.
The men drove off towards Bethlehem and the bakkie was later found hidden at the side of the road about nine kilometres from the farm.
- SAPA