3 Farmers Found Guilty of Murdering another Farmer
Three farmers — Jaco Wessels Kemp, Louise Coetzee, and Gert Frederik van der Westhuizen — have been found guilty of murder in the killing of farm resident Dumisani Phakathi.
According to court evidence, on 16 September 2023, the accused assaulted Phakathi after seeing him near a farm in Mamokgalieskraal collecting water. He was dragged to a storage facility at a chicken farm, where he was beaten to death.
In the early hours of 17 September, Kemp and Coetzee were stopped by police on the R511 near Brits. Officers discovered Phakathi’s bloodied body concealed in a plastic refuse bag in the boot of their vehicle, leading to their immediate arrest.
Van der Westhuizen handed himself over to police on 19 September 2023 after investigators linked him to the crime.
