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BREAKING NEWS: Brutal farm attack outside of Musina

Date: 25 April 2016 By: Andries van Zyl

The country’s farming community was again shocked by the news of yet another brutal farm attack early Monday morning.

The attack occurred just after 06:00 on a farm outside of Musina. With information about the attack slowly coming in, unconfirmed reports indicate that six armed men attacked the 69-year-old Mr Johan Kok, a former town clerk of Musina.

Mr Kok’s friend Ms Ina Genis, who is staying with him on the farm along with her son Danie, apparently managed to hide from the attackers. A family friend told the Zoutpansberger that Danie was overpowered and tied up, while Mr Kok was shot and, among others, sustained a head wound. The attackers demanded money and weapons.

At some stage, Ms Genis is said to have managed to untie her son who in turn shot at the attackers, killing one and wounding another. The rest of the men fled.

A massive search party was organised by police, farmers and even included air support from a private helicopter. Initial reports indicated that four suspects had been captured following the attack. It is said that one of the men were captured along a farm road carrying one of the weapons stolen during the attack.

Provincial police spokesperson Lt Col Malesela Ledwaba on Monday, however, stated that only four suspects were involved in the attack. Apart from the attacker that was shot and killed during the attack, police arrested another suspect with a bullet wound to the thigh. Ledwaba said that no other arrest had been made at that time.

The attack on Mr Kok follows less than a week after the brutal attack on a farm outside Vryheid last week during which the 38-year-old farmer, Mr Billy van Rooyen, and his father-in-law, Mr Ronnie Lombard (62), was shot and killed. Between ten to 15 men armed with AK 47s and shotguns surrounded the homestead where the Van Rooyen family stayed, before opening fire on them. News of this brutal attack also came as a huge shock to residents of the Soutpansberg with Mr Lombard and his family being well-known former residents of Louis Trichardt.

The Zoutpansberger will try and keep readers up to date with the latest developments in the case. The newspaper did manage to briefly speak to Mr Kok’s son Phillip on Monday afternoon. He said that his father had indeed sustained a bullet wound to the head, but that it does not look like he suffered any brain injury because of it. His father was, however, scheduled for a major operation to repair severe damage to his arm, which was broken in two places. Ms Genis and her son is said to be shaken, but unharmed.

 

 
 
 

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

 
 

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