On Wednesday 23 April 2014 at about 21:00, police received a report of a robbery at a house along Devonshire Lane in Hilton, KwaZulu Natal.
On arrival police found the owner an elderly white man, 71, on the premises. He had sustained a stab wound to his head.
It is alleged that the victim was busy feeding his pets when he was confronted by three black men wearing balaclavas and armed with knives, a screw driver and a plank.
It is further alleged that the suspects forced the victim into the house, assaulted him with a plank and thereafter stabbed him in the head with a knife.
The suspects then forced the victim to the floor and tied his hands and feet with a rope.
The suspects then ransacked the house and stole three shotguns, a large amount of ammunition, electrical appliances, a Nokia cell phone, four-thousand-rand in cash and various Pounds and Euros notes.
The suspects thereafter fled from the premises.
The Hilton Detectives are investigating a case of robbery.
Beth Bucher was forced to watch as her partner Dan Knight, a timber harvester, was bludgeoned to death by black attackers with hammers at their Underberg home this week.
In an exclusive interview, Bucher recounted the events of Thursday night when Knight, her partner of 18 years, was violently killed on the eve of his 56th birthday.
“They started beating Dan on the head with the hammers and as he cowered, one hit him hard on the back of the head with a monkey wrench… he groaned and slumped to the floor as they kicked him,” she said.
The incident has rocked the farming community at the foot of the Southern Drakensberg.
Bucher, 59, who has since moved to family in Durban, said they were about to have dinner when five men burst into their home.
“We were in the bad habit of eating dinner on our laps in the lounge and catching up with one another on the events of the day. As we were speaking five men wearing balaclavas and dark clothing burst through the back door which had been closed, but not locked.
“They ran through with their guns and some were carrying hammers, one of them was carrying a huge monkey wrench.”
She said that she was bound before they attacked Knight.
“They pulled Dan off the couch on to the floor and starting hitting him and kicking him. They pushed me back into an upright position and one held my head still and the other forced my eyes open and they made me watch.
“They started beating Dan on the head with the hammers and as he cowered, one hit him hard on the back of the head with a monkey wrench. He groaned and slumped to the floor and they began to kick him. They kept shouting at him demanding money. He couldn’t speak properly because they had broken his jaw and he mumbled that we didn’t keep cash, but he would write them a cheque for R20 000,” Bucher said.
“They hit him again in the face with the hammer reducing it to a bloody pulp,” she said.
As Knight took his last breaths, the intruders ransacked the house and took anything of value.
Bucher was locked in a bathroom after her assailants had tried to suffocate her with a surgical glove.
“I climbed out of a window and ran around to Dan. They had beaten him so badly that his face was unrecognisable and one had hit him so hard with a wrench that his skull was fractured and part of his brain matter had spilled on to the carpet where he lay. I put my hand near his mouth and there was no breath and I knew he was gone,” she said.
Bucher believed the men had been employees of one of Knight’s subcontractors.
“I recognised the gloves they were all wearing as the same that he bought for all of his staff. We had bought them two weeks before,” she said.
“I want them to suffer the same fate that Dan did. They must feel the pain that they inflicted on an innocent man. How people can do that to someone is unthinkable.
“Dan was an amazing man and there was no one who disliked him. He was loving and selfless and very protective of me and my children even though they were not his own. I don’t know what we will do without him,” she added.
A source close to the investigation confirmed that one of the vehicles that was stolen had been recovered. The driver fled when he was confronted by police.
Police spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker confirmed the incident but said no arrests had been made. – Sunday Tribune
A black man accused in the satanic ritual murder of the white Kirsty Theologo has taken the stand, telling the court he had been told she wanted to be sacrificed.
On Monday, Robin Harwood gave his version of the events that took place on October 21, 2011, when Kirsty was drugged and burnt in a satanic ritual.
Harwood, one of the four blacks accused in the murder trial, said the group had spoken about making a sacrifice for a ritual they were planning to carry out.
“I wasn’t for it. I didn’t like the idea,” he said at the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court.
Judge Geraldine Borchers asked whether the group, which included his three co-accused, Lindon Wagner, Harvey Isha and Courtney Daniels, had talked about how Kirsty would be sacrificed.
Harwood said the group had spoken about how one of them would be the Beast when the ritual took place, referring to verses in the biblical book of Revelations.
When questioned about 666 and what it meant, Harwood said they would talk about these things when they were high.
“It was the core of everything, the mark of the beast,” he said.
He said the sacrifice just happened.
Judge Borchers asked him how that was possible because people who did such things normally thought about them in great detail.
“It wasn’t discussed in great detail,” he said, adding that the group did not discuss who would sacrifice Kirsty.
“I was told that she said she would be sacrificed… that Kirsty said she wants to be sacrificed,” he said.
The judge asked if he ever asked Kirsty about her willingness to be part of the ritual.
“No,” he said.
Judge Borchers said she found it strange that someone would like to be killed for other people’s benefit.
“Did you ever think what would happen once she was sacrificed?” she asked.
“No,” he said.
Harwood was also questioned about the meeting the group had on the Thursday to discuss the events that would eventually lead to Kirsty’s death.
He said he could not recall the meeting.
Harwood followed Isha, who took the stand previously. The other two accused have yet to testify.
The trial continues. – The Star
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On Wednesday 23 April 2014 at about 21:00, police received a report of a robbery at a house along Devonshire Lane in Hilton, KwaZulu Natal.
