Two men were heavily sentenced in the Fochville Regional Court this week almost exactly nine years after a violent attack on a farm in the area.

The accused, Dumisani Kholobile and Robert Piyose, were found guilty on the charges against them by Magistrate Pumesa Ngindo on October 3 last year. They were sentenced by Magistrate Ngindo in the same court on April 22. Mrs Karen Mulder was the prosecutor.

Kholobile was sentenced to 15 years on each of the two murders on which he was found guilty, as well as to another six years for attempted murder. He was also sentenced to ten years for robbery with aggravating circumstances, five years for the possession of an unlicensed firearm and another five years for the possession of illegal ammunition. The sentences for the second murder, attempted murder robbery, and unlicensed firearm and ammunition will run concurrently with the sentence for the first murder.

Piyose was also sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for each of the murders as well as six years for the attempted murder and ten years for robbery with aggravating circumstances.

According to the investigating officer, sergeant Jabulani Ngobeni, the sentence stems from an incident on April 27 2017 in which the accused and about two other men attacked and killed two residents on the farm Rhenosterfontein in the Fochville area. They also attempted to kill another resident. They also robbed the victims’ money and SASSA cards.

Members of the police’s special trio tracing team and a colleague Sergeant Simphiwe Tshongoyi arrested the suspects within 24 hours of their crimes. Although Kholobile was in custody for the nine years since his arrest, Piyose received bail, but was later rearrested after he later did not attend court.