Farmer's Achilles tendons slashed
2006-02-09 22:38
Mookgopong - Attackers apparently slashed an elderly famer's Achilles tendons, mutilated him and left him 2km from his farmhouse in the bushes to keep him from interfering with their murder rampage.
Then, they murdered his wife.
"They killed my parents like animals..." said a heartbroken Callie Botha on Thursday after his parents had been found murdered on this Limpopo farm.
Farmers in the Naboomspruit area were shocked and angered by the cruelty with which 72-year-old Charles Botha was killed.
The farmer's body was found on Wednesday about two kilometres from Kaalvallei farm between Mookgopong and Vaalwater. It had been covered with branches.
Superintendent Malesela Ledwaba of Waterberg police said that, apart from Botha's Achilles tendons being slashed, he apparently also had been stabbed several times with a sharp object, as there were wounds to his legs, back and head.
Face crushed with a brick
"Police are looking for a farm worker who has disappeared since the murder. They suspected there might have been more than one attacker.
The bloody body of Botha's wife, Joey, 71, was found in the main bedroom of the farmhouse.
The couple's son, Deon, found his mother's body under a duvet. Her face apparently had been crushed with a brick.
Johan Botha, one of the couple's four sons, said his mom had been "very badly hurt".
"It seemed as if she had tried to stop the attacker with a pillow, but in vain."
Nothing was taken from the house. A firearm on Botha's bedside table was untouched, as was his bakkie.
A shocked Marie Helm, area manager for Transvaal Agricultural Union, SA-North, said on Thursday afternoon: "The murder is frightening.
"We don't know what else to do to get the government to listen to us and stop the farm murders.
"There's no way these murders are related to burglary or theft," she said.
Deon and Callie Botha saw their parents for the last time alive on Tuesday. They tried to phone them on Wednesday, but got no answer at the farmhouse.
Deon and a neighbour, Koos Fouché, went to the house on Wednesday afternoon.
The house was locked. The couple's cars were parked outside and the electricity had been cut.
Deon broke a window to get inside, and found his mother's bloody body.
'Totally apathetic attitude'
At that stage, his father was still missing, and a large-scale search was launched by the police, members of the TAU SA-N and trackers. They later found Charles Botha's body hidden by bushes.
Dries Joubert, chairperson of TAU SA-N, criticised the government on Thursday for not doing something to stop farm murders.
"The totally apathetic attitude of the president, minister of land affairs and minister of safety (and security) should indicate that the murder of white commercial farmers doesn't have much effect on the government," he said.
He said the senseless and cruel manner in which this murder had been committed should shock the whole of South Africa into action.