Elderly Pretoria woman brutally hacked to death with axe
Famous businessman’s mother-in-law murdered while alone on farm.
An elderly woman has been hacked to death with an axe on Thursday evening on a farm just outside Pretoria.
Pretoria businessman Pierre Niemand told Rekord he received a call on Friday morning informing him that his mother-in-law, Marlene Brits (70), had been brutally murdered on Niemand’s farm on Thursday.
Niemand said Brits had been living alone with her dogs. “The foreman on the farm saw that a veld fire had broken out during the morning, and ran to the house. When he got there he found a hole in the electric fence, and saw that Marlene had been killed with an axe.”
Niemand said the murder seemed to be part of a robbery. The robber had stolen her cell phone, some cash and had attempted to steal her car. “My mother-in-law’s car had an anti-theft device built in, so he could only reverse a short distance before he abandoned the car.”
Niemand said police forensic units were on the scene to investigate and that they had arrested someone who had apparently confessed to the murder.
Niemand made national news headlines on 17 Mei 2012 when he and his son Vincent crashed in a light airplane west of Bronkhortspruit. The airplane crashed on a runway after hitting a power pole and a fence. Both survived the accident.
Police spokesperson Constable Sam Shibambo is yet to comment on the matter.
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