Cape Town – Northern Cape police have arrested the 30-year-old wife of murdered hotel owner Leon Brits.
Brits’s wife was arrested at their house in in Marchand, Kakamas, on Monday morning, police said in a statement. She will be charged with murder, aggravated robbery and perjury and should be appearing in the Pofadder Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
The 41-year-old Brits was found floating in a swimming pool with several stab wounds at one of their properties in Pofadder on October 7 last year. Several valuables such as firearms, a cellphone, Kruger Rands, polished diamonds and cash was allegedly taken from the premises.
One of the trio accused of Brits’s murder, Jacques van Vuuren, 37, entered into a guilty plea agreement with the State on Thursday.
The Kimberley High Court sentenced him to 25 years’ jail, of which five years was suspended, for the murder, 15 years for aggravated robbery and three years for unlawful possession of a firearm. The sentences will run concurrently and Van Vuuren will effectively serve 20 years behind bars.
The two other accused are Amantle Bareki, 24, and Enrich Williams, 34. They are charged with murder, aggravated robbery and possession of an illegal firearm.
They will appear in the Pofadder Magistrate’s Court on May 17.
At the time of the murder, it was reported that Brits’s body was discovered by his wife after she had failed to track him down on his phone.
The Freedom Front Plus claimed in a statement that the incident was allegedly related to a labour dispute.
"Reports that the owner of the Pofadder Hotel, Mr Leon Brits, killed in his home, shocked the mostly peaceful Bushmanland.
"Early rumours are that the incident has to do with a labour dispute. He was reportedly stabbed with knives, strangled with a chain and thrown into the indoor pool, where his wife found him," the Freedom Front Plus said.
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