Triple shooting ends affair
2008-07-08 20:00
Johannesburg - A 48-year-old hunter killed his ex-girlfriend, her new lover and then himself on a farm near Mafikeng on Tuesday, said North West police.
Superintendent Keaobaka Moses said the woman, in her 40s, and her new lover - an advocate attached to the local directorate of public prosecutions - were at a farm next to Manyane game lodge outside Mafikeng about 06:00 on Tuesday.
The 48-year-old hunter had been in a 10-year affair with the woman before she fell in love with the advocate.
The woman was still married to her husband, but hadn't been staying with him for many years.
The hunter was waiting for the pair in bushes next to a farm road which led to the main road.
His first shot penetrated the advocate's car windshield. The second shot hit the man in the right side of his chest.
The vehicle came to a halt and the hunter walked to the driver's side and fired a shot directly into the wounded man's ear.
The woman had been following the advocate's car in her Toyota Conquest. Police found her lying next to the car with a gunshot wound to her head.
Police found blood splatters on the side of the car and surmised that she had been outside the car when the shot had ripped her head to pieces.
Both the man and the woman died at their cars.
The hunter then drove to his house on a nearby farm at Molopo Oog. He apparently phoned his brother to tell him that he had shot the two and was going to kill himself.
Had written a will
The hunter arrived home, sat down on his couch, placed the rifle between his legs and shot himself in his chest. He died in the house.
The hunter had written a will and taped a message which he gave to one of his labourers to give to police when they arrived.
The hunter had threatened the two lovers before this, saying, "Ek gaan julle eendag kry," meant he would "get them one day".
The woman's husband told police the hunter had acted irrationally because he (the husband) had known about the woman's infidelities for many years, but had not acted as the hunter had.
Moses said two cases of murder were being investigated. An inquest docket into the apparent suicide had been opened.
- SAPA