The elder son of slain Kimberley businessman Piet Els told the Northern Cape High Court on Wednesday that he noticed that a rifle and a pistol were missing from the house following the attack on his father in 2018.
THE ELDER son of slain Kimberley businessman Piet Els told the Northern Cape High Court on Wednesday that he noticed that a rifle and a pistol were missing from the house following the attack on his father in 2018.
Seven people are standing trial in the Northern Cape High Court in connection with the murder of the prominent businessman, who was brutally attacked, along with his partner, on his farm just outside Kimberley on January 24, 2018.
Petrus Els testified on Wednesday that his father’s Winchester rifle and 7.65 pistol were reported missing to the police after the attack.
“When I got news of the attack, I immediately went to the farm. My father and his partner were still at the house. We informed the police that the firearms were missing. My father kept his firearms under the bed,” said Els.
When questioned whether the firearms were for personal protection, Els said the pistol was for protection and the rifle was mostly used for hunting.
“I shot my first springbok with that rifle. I came to know of that rifle when I was still a child. In the olden days one would go hunting with your father. So the rifle was not merely for personal protection. The pistol was for personal protection,” he said.
Els Snr was brutally assaulted and burnt with a hot iron during the incident and spent 111 days in the high care unit at Mediclinic Gariep before passing away on May 15, 2018, almost four months after the attack.
Seven accused, Morapeli Rankali, Montlalentwa Qhautse, Lizbeth Ndlala, Oupa Jeffrey Mahomane, Themba Maja, Samson Mbokane and Jabulani Zuma, who told the court that he is the son of former president Jacob Zuma, are standing trial for the murder.
They have been charged with murder, robbery and the illegal possession of firearms.
Various valuables, including jewellery, Krugerrands and two firearms, were stolen during the attack.
The trial continues.
