The police have not yet made any arrests in connection with the murder of a Randfontein family on their farm near Doornfontein.
Captain Tsekiso Mofokeng said on Tuesday investigations were continuing. He said it was unclear how many people had attacked the family, beating them to death last Wednesday night. “We are also still trying to find the motive,” he said.
The attackers killed an elderly man, his son, his son’s fiancé and her nine-year-old daughter. All four of them were allegedly beaten to death, sustaining blunt force trauma, Captain Appel Ernst said at the time.
“The 73-year-old male was allegedly visiting South Africa after his family emigrated to the United Kingdom a few years back,” the police spokesperson said in a statement.
The man’s family in the UK became concerned after he failed to return their calls. A family friend was asked to go and check on him at the farm.
The friend discovered the elderly man’s body on the property and alerted the police.
“During investigation on the scene, the [son’s] fiancé was found in a partially built house on the premises,” said Ernst. The 46-year-old woman was dead.
Only a vehicle taken
Police officers continued their search of the property and the body of the young girl was discovered in a shed, Ernst said.
A search was conducted for the elderly man’s son for hours but there was no sign of him or the family’s Mercedes SUV. The abandoned vehicle was later traced to the Greenhills area, more than 40km away from Doornfontein.
The police’s K9 unit as well as a helicopter were deployed to the area to search for the missing 42-year-old man.
The man was still nowhere to be found on Thursday.
On Friday, police conducted an aerial search for the man over the farm. His body was eventually located in a grove on the property.
By this time, his family from the UK had already arrived on the scene.
Nothing but the family’s vehicle, which was later found abandoned, had been taken from the property, Ernst said.
Source – News24
South Africa Today – South Africa News
