Durban - Two men have been found guilty of the brutal murder of 56-year old Underberg timber contractor, Dan Knight, and the vicious attack on his life partner, Beth Bucher.
Tsepiso Ramonyane and Bonginkosi Nyawose showed little emotion after they were convicted by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday, chatting briefly with their relatives at the court before they were led down to the court cells.
The pair were to have been sentenced on Monday.
Judge Jerome Mnguni found that the State had proven beyond reasonable doubt that they had been involved in the savage attack on the couple.
Bucher, who had moved with her family to Durban after the attack, has been too traumatised to attend the trial since giving testimony in May.
Her daughter, Lauren Raw, said while the judgment brought little comfort to the family, they were satisfied that Knight’s killers would be behind bars.
Mnguni, with assessor Fred de Beer, found that the two men had been part of a gang that stormed the couple’s Outlook Farm on the night of October 17 last year.
Knight and Bucher had settled down to supper when they were attacked.
Evidence against the accused included a confession Nyawose had made to police upon his arrest, as well as testimony by Ramonyane’s cousin, Thabo Dlamini, to whom Ramonyane had confessed.
The two men had pleaded not guilty, and claimed that police had assaulted Nyawose into making the confession and that Dlamini was lying. However, judge Mnguni found that even though Bucher could not identify her attackers, the evidence against the pair was “overwhelming”.
A third man, Happy Gcina, was acquitted last week after State advocate Siyabonga Buthelezi conceded that there was insufficient evidence.
Knight was bludgeoned to death with a hammer and a monkey wrench by the balaclava-clad attackers, who demanded money and firearms from the couple. They bound his hands and feet with curtain ties, rendering him helpless to defend himself.
Bucher was forced to watch as Knight was brutally tortured to death, after which she was viciously assaulted.
In testimony, Bucher described how a rope was put around her neck, and her hands and feet bound with cable ties. A man sat on her while she could only watch the assault on Knight.
Bucher was later carried to the bathroom where one attacker shoved his fist and then the barrel of his firearm down her throat.
Her head was wrapped in bandages and a surgical glove pulled over her nose and mouth to suffocate her.
She was tied to the pedestal of the basin but after much effort, she managed to suck the glove into her mouth and bit a hole in it so that she could breathe. She lay there for a long time while the intruders ransacked the house. The attackers eventually drove away in two farm vehicles after which Bucher managed to free herself.
Daily News