Lotter Helen

The farm murder of 57-year-old Helen Lotter and her 78-year-old mother, Alice Lotter, took place on March 6, 2009, on their farm in Allanridge near Welkom in the Free State, remaining one of South Africa’s most notorious farm attacks due to the extreme nature of the violence. Helen and Alice were cornered and held hostage inside their home for several hours by a group of attackers who subjected both women to prolonged and severe physical torture. Helen suffered multiple stab wounds, had her front teeth knocked out, and her body was severely mutilated, while Alice died from asphyxiation after swallowing blood from her own facial and stab wounds. First responders and community security organizations described the location as one of the most gruesome crime scenes they had ever encountered, and civil rights organizations later reported that the victims' blood was used by the killers to write political slogans on the walls. According to South African Police Service court records, the attack was led by the family’s own gardener, who utilized his familiarity with the property to bypass security and ambush the women. Alice Lotter survived long enough before succumbing to her injuries to explicitly identify the gardener to authorities, which led to the arrest, trial, and subsequent conviction of him and his accomplices. The two main perpetrators, including the gardener, each received two life sentences in the Welkom High Court for the premeditated murders of Helen and Alice Lotter. In addition to the life sentences for murder, the court handed down additional multi-year prison terms to run concurrently for charges of housebreaking and robbery with aggravating circumstances.