A letter from Gary Pistorius (02.10) refers to the statement in which he asks why the Marquard attackers are not charged with attempted murder instead of housebreaking.
In January 2014, my wife and I were on our farm and had endured the same experience as the Van der Merwe couple. A gang of men armed with knives attacked us.
I suffered 20 stab wounds in the chest, abdomen, head, neck, arms, and legs and spent three weeks in intensive care. My wife was hit with a metal pipe over the head and down her back, pelvis, and suffered fractures. Her arms were turned backward to tie her hands behind her back and her shoulders are so injured that she had to undergo two shoulder operations.
After the violence, we were left for dead and the suspects ransacked the house for hours. The suspects drove off with my truck.
During the trial, 18 months later all the suspects were acquitted because the Falcons head in Bloemfontein came to show me and my wife a picture while I was still in the intensive care unit. We were shown a photo of a man (a Rastafarian) who apparently held a long knife and what he had done with it.
It is apparently illegal to see a photo of an attacker.
The same head of the Hawks also forgot to take fingerprints in our house and the pickup van. The pickup van, which was found on the same day as the attack, remained in the custody of the police for more than a month before it was returned to me. Therefore, there was plenty of time for the police to take fingerprints.
AfriForum assisted me with writing a letter to the Public Protector. The reply we received was that it was poor investigative work and that we cannot appeal against the decision of the magistrate, all because it was illegal to see a photo of the accused before a court appearance.
Incidentally, our case was referred to as housebreaking instead of attempted murder and it is all an attempt to conceal the reality of farm attacks?
South Africa Today – South Africa News
