Durban - Nearly one year after KwaZulu-Natal cattle farmers, Glen Rafferty, 63, and Vida Homann Rafferty, 60 were murdered on their Normandien farm, near Newcastle, a fourth suspect has been arrested and charged.
Kwazulu-Natal police said that Osizweni police arrested a fourth man, Sibongiseni Emmanuel Madondo (33) who was charged for the murders and armed robbery.
He appeared in the Newcastle Magistrates Court on 23 August 2021. He was remanded in custody until 30 August 2021 - exactly one year to the day that Rafferty’s were found murdered on their farm in a crime the local community described as heinous and brutal.
KZN police spokesman, Brigadier Jay Naicker said that on the day of his arrest, Madondo was found in possession of a pistol with 32 rounds of ammunition.
He appeared in the Madadeni Magistrates Court on 10 August 2021 for being in unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and he was remanded in custody.
“He will now join his co-accused Siyabonga Macu (30) and Doctor Fikani Ngwenya (20) who are still in custody. They were arrested in October 2020 and the case against them was remanded to 17 January 2022,” Naicker said.
In March this year, Sizwe Zwane (33) pleaded guilty in the Pietermaritzburg High Court in March and was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for both murders and robbery. Detectives from the Provincial Organised Crime Unit arrested Zwane on 14 February 2021.
He was the third person to be arrested in connection with the farm murders.
The couple and their dog were shot in August as they returned from an evening out with friends. They were accosted by a group of attackers as they entered their property.
The suspects then fled in the couple’s vehicle which was later found abandoned.
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