Pretoria, Aug 5 (UNI) A White South African farm owner and two employees are facing trial over the alleged murder of two Black women who were shot dead for trespassing last August and their bodies fed to pigs – stoking fury in a nation already reeling from racial tensions.
The women were killed by Zachariah Olivier (60) and his workers, Adrian De Wet (19), and 45-year-old foreign national William Musoro, reports CNN.
The men appeared at the Limpopo Polokwane High Court on Monday, in the northern Limpopo province, a regional spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa (NPA) told CNN.
The trio are facing a series of charges including murder, attempted murder, defeating the ends of justice and possession of firearms and ammunition, the NPA said.
Musoro, described by police as “an illegal immigrant”, was additionally charged with “contravening sections of the illegal immigration act,” a police statement said.
The men were arrested after police investigations led to the discovery of the decomposed bodies of the women “in a pigsty on a farm in Sebayeng, outside Mankweng,” on August 20, 2024, the police statement said at the time.
A 45-year-old South African woman, accompanied by a 35-year-old foreign national woman and and a 47-year-old foreign national man, had entered the farm to collect expired and abandoned dairy products, where both women died of gunshot wounds while the man, who was with them, attempted to flee but “was also shot and hospitalized”.
