Van der Merwe Eugene

Age 61. On the evening of 9 October, Van der Merwe and his son were attacked at the farm. Both were severely assaulted and sustained multiple bodily and head injuries, apparently from a blunt object. Van der Merwe was attacked in a farm shed, where his body was later found. His son was attacked inside the house and was critically injured but survived. A farm worker discovered them at approximately 05:00 on 10 October and alerted the farm owner, who contacted the police. The murder weapon was not recovered, and the initial police report said that the motive had not yet been established. Police arrested two men in connection with the attack. The first was arrested on 10 October and the second on 11 October. One of the suspects was a former employee on the farm. Stolen cellphones were recovered when the suspects were arrested. The two accused were Thulani Chemane, 36, and Busani Shoba, 27. Both pleaded guilty in the Ramsgate High Court. In December 2013 they were each sentenced to 22 years for murder, 10 years for attempted murder, 13 years for robbery and one year for possession of ammunition, with the sentences running concurrently. Their effective sentence was therefore 22 years' imprisonment each, rather than the 45-year aggregate sometimes quoted when all individual sentences are added together.