Farm attack - man 'executed'

Farm murders Death toll now 3,115

A man from a farm in the Roossenekal district in Mpumalanga has been "executed" with his own firearm in a revenge attack.

Gawie Hough, 42, was attacked two months after a former employee of his brother Deon, 41, threatened him with the words: "I'll show you what I can do with a white man."

Deon Hough, owner of the farm on the Steelpoort road, says his brother was murdered on Thursday night.

"I left the farm on Thursday at about 16:30. We were still chatting and joking. Our neighbours heard four shots at 18:00. Our domestic worker, who was at home with my brother, only went to the police on Friday morning to report my brother's murder."

According to Deon, the attackers overpowered Gawie inside the house before dragging him about 600m away. They were on a footpath when they shot him at very close range in the left side of his face, probably while he was looking at them.

A source close to the Hough family says the gunpowder from the firearm was still sticking to Gawie's face after his death.

"We suspect he bled to death in the path because he was lying in a pool of blood. Then they dragged him 15m into the bushes, but possibly stopped to rest before dragging him another 15m, before leaving him under a tree," said Deon.

The attackers then dragged his brother a further 20m to a river bank and left him there in the bushes before they fled.

He was wearing only his underpants.

Deon says one of his farm workers disappeared after the incident. This worker's brother is a former employee of Deon. Both men are from Zimbabwe.

According to Deon, he sacked the one brother a few months ago because he'd been causing trouble.

"Two months ago, that worker phoned me and said: 'I'll show you what I can do with a white man.' I asked him what he wanted, and he replied he wanted R600 from me.

"I gave the R600 to his brother to give to him. I also asked the brother to get my cellphone back, which the other brother took when he left, but it was never returned."

Gawie's murderers fled with his revolver, two radios, two cellphones and about R1 000.

On Sunday Deon expressed his dismay that the police did not take fingerprints at the scene. They also did not take his cellphone number in order to be able to contact him.

Ronel Otto, police spokesperson, confirmed that the Houghs' domestic worker had reported the incident to the police. Otto says there is a possibility that three suspects were involved in the attack.

- Beeld