(Image via Spier Wine Farm’s Facebook page)
Latest farm attack: Farm in Phillippi raided by ten suspects
Another farm attack took a life.
(Image via Spier Wine Farm’s Facebook page)
Police have arrested two suspects in the latest farm attack in Phillippi on Sunday, 16 December.
Latest farm attack in Phillippi
SAPS’ Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana revealed that ten men entered the farm in Phillippi with robbery as the intent. The farmer was with his son working on general maintenance when ten men, in two cars, approached the property under the pretence of trying to do business.
Read – AfriForum releases 2018 stats on farm attacks in Western Cape
Things turned for the worst when the suspects attacked the farmer and his son, forcing them to show them where the safe is.
Sergeant Rwexana stated that the suspects retrieved an undisclosed amount of money. As they tried to lock the farmer, his son and other farm employees in a storeroom, a farm worker attempted to resist and was fatally shot.
“The suspects fled in a white Toyota Avanza vehicle and a white Volkswagen Golf. Police and farm watch members were activated and they arrested two suspects aged 33 and 35,”
Sergeant Rwexana stated.
A third suspect was shot and killed as he tried to make an escape. Rwexana has revealed that the SAPS have launched a manhunt for the remaining seven suspects who made it of with an undisclosed amount of money.
Read – Five farm attacks in 48 hours leave rural communities in shock
Addition to AfriForum’s farm attacks stats
This is the latest addition to the statistics on farm attacks in the Western Cape that was released by AfriForum last week.
According to the lobby group, with this latest attack as an exception, there have been 22 farm attacks in the Western Cape.
Read – ANC condemns farm attacks but says AfriForum doesn’t care about workers
The work of the SAPS in arresting some of the suspects proves the point AfriForum’s Ian Cameron made about their hard work in trying to quell this growing trend.
“In the Western Cape, there really is a very big effort in many areas by local police to do something. People really should be encouraged to build a strong relationship with local police and obviously their farm watches,”
he stated.
