Durban – The killing of a man in his mid-60s on Wednesday brings the number of farm murders in the Bulwer/Underberg area of KwaZulu-Natal to three for 2017.
The man was alleged to have been sitting on the veranda of the house on the farm Tatoon, in Bulwer, when he was approached by an unknown number of suspects at about 7pm on Wednesday night, dragged into his home, doused with petrol and set alight.
Police confirmed the incident, but were not willing to yet provide a name.
Director at Berg Protection Services, Brett Deavin, who was one of those responding to the incident, said that the charred remains were “not something we have seen before”.
Deavin said: “He was beyond all recognition. I have seen a lot of farm killings, but nothing like this.”
He said that because of the state of the body, it was impossible to know if the man was first killed and then set alight, or set alight while he was still alive.
The man’s wife had returned home with a friend after being out and noticed blood on the front door and left to call for assistance. She was taken away by community members and did not see her husband’s remains.
The remote timber farm, which the victim and his wife were renting, had no electronic security, according to Deavin.
In February, 47-year-old Gavin Carter was shot twice in the chest at his Underberg farm. Within the same week, Trevor Rees was tortured over two days and shot at his farm near Himeville. He died in hospital a few days later.
Suspects were arrested in both incidents.