Van Eyk Ronél

Age 46. The incident occurred just after 08:00 AM after she returned home from dropping her nine-year-old son, Freddie, off at school. As she stopped her vehicle to open the farm gate, she was ambushed by two men who shot her three times, with one bullet striking her in the face. As she lay critically bleeding on the ground, she managed to dial a neighbor, Jurie Fourie, but was only able to make choking sounds into the phone. Neighbors rushed to the scene and found her still alive, but she tragically passed away on the way to the hospital. The attackers robbed her of her handbag, cash, two cellphones, and a handgun. They attempted to flee in her vehicle but abandoned it a short distance down the road.Both perpetrators were eventually arrested, successfully prosecuted, and heavily sentenced:Papiki Motabogi (27) was arrested on August 19, 2014, in Wolmaransstad for an unrelated crime, where forensic links subsequently tied him back to the Hartbeesfontein farm murder.Maiuane Paulino Romao (44), a Mozambican national who had fled to Gauteng immediately following the murder, was tracked down and arrested on December 15, 2014.On November 5, 2015, the North West High Court in Potchefstroom found both men guilty of murder and armed robbery and sentenced both Motabogi and Romao to life imprisonment.