The phrase "killing fields" doesn't quite conjure up the rolling hills of the Cradle of Humankind, a Unesco World Heritage site west of Johannesburg.
But beneath the veneer of the tourist buses and Jersey cows are horrifying murder and robbery statistics, which received yet another boost this week.
The area bore witness to its 96th farm attack this year when Belgian national Mattias Noack, 58, who survived another attack on his life last November, was murdered by five attackers at his Lindley, Muldersdrift, home on Thursday night.
Raising more than a few eyebrows among neighbours is the fact that Noack and his wife Susan were witnesses in the criminal trial of a police inspector, from Muldersdrift police station, arrested in recent weeks over last November's attack.
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West Rand police spokesperson Inspector Solomon Sibiya told the Saturday Star that the suspect, who can't be named until he has pleaded, appeared in the Krugersdorp magistrate's court this week and had his case postponed until October 26. He was released on R2 000 bail.
Shockingly, the policeman is still on duty and has been transferred to Norwood police station pending an internal disciplinary hearing on October 10. Sibiya said the suspect would be charged with attempted murder and robbery.
The inspector was arrested after being identified by Noack's wife at the Douglasdale police station, where she works as a receptionist.
Noack retired to South Africa three years ago to set up a nursery. Last year, the couple were attacked in their driveway, along with two German tourists, by four men. Noack was shot in a leg before the attackers fled.
On Thursday, the couple returned home at 8.30pm to find five attackers waiting for them. Noack was shot at three times and died on the scene. Money, cellphones, a revolver and the couple's Nissan Almera were stolen, but Noack's wife was not harmed.
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