Farmer behind bars after shooting suspected intruder dead

A man caught in a car on a farm was shot dead, and the farmer was arrested for alleged murder.


Middelburg Observer reports that last week an incident incident occurred on a farm, Eensome, near Roossenekal, Middelburg, Mpumalanga, that left an alleged trespasser dead and a local farmer arrested for murder.

Willem Daniel Ackermann apparently unexpectedly saw a light inside his Honda CRV, which was parked on his premises.

When he approached, he saw an unknown man inside the car.

Markus Basson, chair of the Roossenekal Farm Safety Forum for five years, said Ackermann had asked the man who he was and what he was looking for.

According to police, the suspect got out of the vehicle and approached Ackermann. They said that five shots were then fired in total and that the suspect was fatally wounded.

Basson said that a knife was found at the scene.

Ambulance services declared the suspect dead at the scene.

Ackermann was arrested on a charge of murder and appeared in the Groblersdal’s Magistrate’s Court. The case was postponed to a later date.

Translated from Afrikaans by Charles Cilliers

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