Loots Andries

Age 63. The tragic account of Andries Loots unfolds on the late evening of Sunday, October 25, 2020, on a pig farm situated between the gold mining towns of Welkom and Virginia in the Free State province. The sixty-three-year-old farmer had been grappling with a severe spate of persistent burglaries on his property, which prompted heightened vigilance. Around ten o'clock that evening, Andries Loots teamed up with an on-site private security guard to conduct a proactive security patrol across the farm grounds in an attempt to protect his livelihood. During their patrol, they unexpectedly encountered a group of criminal intruders lurking on the property. A violent confrontation immediately broke out, during which the assailants mercilessly assaulted both men. In the midst of the physical onslaught, the attackers drew firearms and shot Andries multiple times at close range, inflicting fatal wounds that claimed his life directly on the scene. The shocking murder deeply devastated his family, including his daughter Helena Steyn, and compounded a dark week for the Free State agricultural community, occurring alongside the concurrent murders of other local farmers like Dave Wessels in Viljoenskroon.