‘I could commit murder. I am heartbroken’

Daniel Motshwarateu and Helton Matsimela leave the Bronkhorstspruit Magistrate's Court on Monday. Photo: Graeme Hosken

Daniel Motshwarateu and Helton Matsimela leave the Bronkhorstspruit Magistrate's Court on Monday. Photo: Graeme Hosken

Published Nov 9, 2010

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“I could commit murder. I am heartbroken. I am beside myself.”

These were the gut-wrenching words of Hein Meyer as he stood outside the Bronkhorstspruit Magistrate’s Court after listening to how his daughter’s attacker put a gun in her mouth and shot her.

Meyer’s daughter, Edri Myburgh, 27, her mother-in-law, Anna Myburgh, 56, and a domestic worker, Paulina Zithobeni, 28, were attacked in Anna’s Bronkhorstspruit home last year.

Their attackers, Anna’s gardener, Daniel Motshwarateu, 23, and his neighbour, Helton Matsimela, 28, who appeared in court for pre-sentence proceedings on day, beat and tortured the women for seven hours repeatedly, burning Anna with a hot iron before they drove them out on a deserted road and shot both Myburghs in the head. Zithobeni was critically injured when the attackers, who were found guilty earlier this year, lost control of the family’s car and crashed.

Matsimela and Motshwarateu were caught close to where they had left the three women for dead.

Edri had raised the alarm after she regained consciousness and walked more than 10km through farm fields. Her mother-in-law was rescued when a motorist saw her.

Family members listened on Monday to how their loved ones were tortured, all because Motshwarateu was owed R40. Edri’s husband, Henk, said outside court:

“The best thing that can happen to these men is that they die in prison.” Motshwarateu told the court that he should not be imprisoned as he wanted to look after his mother.

When asked by the prosecutor, Elize Schoeman, why he had tortured Anna Myburgh with a burning iron, Matsimela said it had not been that hot. “We wanted to scare them and get the money. I did not think that all of that was going to happen,” he said.

The case will proceed later this month. - Pretoria News

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