Durban - The South Coast farmer who shot dead an intruder and wounded another after they forced their way into his home would not be charged, the police said on Tuesday.
Margate police spokesman Gerald Mfeka said the investigation had been concluded and the police had no intention of arresting Ronald Lilje of Port Edward.
Two weeks ago, Lilje, whose home was ransacked twice last year, killed one intruder, wounded another and a third escaped.
The gang had with them a blowtorch, hammers, pickaxes and rope, and Lilje said he thought they had come to rob, torture and kill him and his wife, Lorraine.
Lilje had searched his house when the alarm was triggered. When
he saw men working open a window in a spare room he took his gun from the safe and waited for them.
He shot Sandile Mbotho, 25, in the head and chest. Another 25-year-old man tried to run but was shot in the collarbone, arm and knee. The third man got away.
The surviving intruder faces a robbery charge.
He was recovering at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, under police guard, Mfeka confirmed.
“There is no case against Lilje,” Mfeka said. “If people are in your house at night and you kill them; how can you be arrested?” he asked.
“It would have been different if he (Lilje) had been robbed on the road and shot them but they invaded his house at night,” he said.
Welcoming the news, Lilje said he had shot the intruders in self defence.
“I had no choice but to protect myself and my wife,” the farmer said.
“I have no remorse. It was either them or me. If they come back, they will get the same treatment.”
Lilje commended the police for their swift response.
Earlier this month, the police arrested Manor Gardens resident Dennis Webster after he killed an intruder in his kitchen.
Webster is out on bail.
Police spokesman Vincent Mdunge said the police handled each case on its own merits because the circumstances were never the same.
The Mercury