Potchefstroom – Koster police have arrested a 48-year-old man for allegedly shooting dead a 35-year-old cyclist a few kilometres from his farm, North West police said on Saturday.
“It is understood that the cyclist was on his bicycle on (the) Rustenburg-Koster road at about [4pm] when the incident happened,” Captain Paul Ramaloko said in a statement.
The farmer allegedly shot the man after accusing him of theft. It is alleged that the farmer stopped the cyclist on the road and asked him to hand over his bag so that he could search it. Apparently the farmer’s house had been broken into earlier and the housebreakers made off with various items.
“After the farmer searched the man’s bag he allegedly found (a) first aid kit, a pillow, a cap, and a pair of shoes, which is said to (be) from his house. An altercation began and the farmer shot the man twice, and the cyclist succumbed to the shots on the scene,” he said.
The police were alerted and upon arrival on the scene the farmer was arrested and his firearm confiscated for ballistic tests.
He would appear in the Koster Magistrate’s Court on Monday on a murder charge, Ramaloko said.
African News Agency