Johannesburg — A farmer and his son were arrested in Piet Plessis near Vryburg, on Tuesday, for electrocuting a farm worker and almost killing another, North West police said.
“According to an eyewitness, another farm worker, the two [men] were called to the storeroom and were accused of stealing two tyres and 25 litres of diesel,” Brigadier Thulani Ngubane said.
When the two workers denied stealing the items, the farmer, 69, and his son, 33, allegedly tied them up with chains, assaulted them and shocked them with jumper cables. The men allegedly also pointed a firearm at them.
One farm worker died at the scene and the other was injured.
The farmer and his son allegedly offered the eyewitness R1500 to keep quiet, but after realising that one man might have died they rushed him to a nearby clinic. The man was pronounced dead on arrival.
“At the clinic, the suspects alleged that the deceased fainted after drinking too much alcohol at the weekend.”
However, after police were called to the clinic, the injured farm worker told them what had happened. He was later transferred to the Mahikeng provincial hospital.
The men would appear in the Vryburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday on charges of murder, attempted murder, assault and the pointing of a firearm.
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