By REGINALD KANYANE
23 September 2024- Two farm security guards were sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for killing a man they suspected of stealing watermelons on a farm near Magogong village. On 2 January 2019, the security guards noticed two men on the farm and assumed that they had come to steal watermelons.
The Northern Cape police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Sergio Kock said the pair were apprehended, and one of the men was tied up and placed in a store room. Kock said Pieta Modingwana (29), was shot twice in his abdomen as he fled to his shack in Magogong village, near Taung.
“The police were informed by the community, and Modingwana was transported to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries two days later. The Hartswater police continued to follow up on information and found a man tied up in a storeroom on the farm.
“The farm owner and the two security guards were subsequently arrested. The farm owner, Dawie Oosthuizen (62), died of natural causes while out on bail on 20 December 2022,” he said.
Kock said two accused, Kabelo Edward De Bruin (27) and Goitsemang Piet Muller (37), were both sentenced in the Northern Cape High Court sitting in Kimberley. Kock said the duo was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for murder, 10 years for kidnapping and 3 years imprisonment for assault GBH.
“They were also sentenced to 5 imprisonment for illegal possession of a firearm and one year for possession of ammunition. The sentences will run concurrently,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Northern Cape Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Koliswa Otola, commended the Investigation Officer, Detective Warrant Officer Tiisetso Chabeli and the Hartswater Detective team for their hard work that ensured no impunity is granted to the perpetrators of this heinous crime. Otola also warned the public to refrain from taking the law into their own hands.
The Guardian 