Vorster Louwrens Lodewikus

Anna, Louwrens'wife, left the shop that morning at about 8:00 in her Toyota pickup, registration CAE 2447, and returned to Dwaalfontein at approximately 17:00. At about 18:30, farmer Mr Peyper was travelling from Aliwal North towards Dwaalfontein when he saw the pickup approaching at speed with its lights on. About 500 metres in front of him, it left the road and overturned. When he stopped, two men emerged from bushes near the vehicle and ran away. Peyper recognised the Toyota as belonging to the Vorsters and raised the alarm. The following morning, 20 September, Anna was found in a field near the farmstead. She had been shot in the back of the head and abdomen. Her hands had been tied above her head with plastic-coated wire. The rifle used was a Springfield .22 belonging to Louwrens, and it was subsequently found inside the house. Later that morning, Louwrens was found in a nearby farm dam. His body had been weighted down with two large stones, one weighing 78 kg and the other 18 kg. His immediate cause of death was strangulation. A ligature made from plastic-coated wire had been tightly applied around his neck. He also had multiple penetrating wounds to the left side of his chest and abrasions to his forehead. The post-mortem examination indicated that he was already dead when his body was put or dragged into the dam. The investigation led to the arrest in Aliwal North on 22 September 1991 of Mlungisi David Lange, Mahlomola Enoch Mokhoabane and Abraham Mosanyane Moshapane. The subsequent court proceedings provide unusually detailed evidence about the sequence of events. The prosecution's evidence included a witness, Bhambushe Mathimba, who had driven the three men towards Dwaalfontein before the killings. They had told him they were going to the farm to collect clothing allegedly left there by one of them. They later returned carrying property belonging to the Vorsters, including a video machine. At trial, all three were convicted of robbery with aggravating circumstances. Lange and Mokhoabane were convicted of both murders. Moshapane was not convicted of Anna's murder because the trial court could not exclude the possibility that he had left the farm before Anna returned that afternoon; he was nevertheless convicted in relation to Louwrens. Each received ten years' imprisonment for the robbery convictions, while the murder convictions initially resulted in death sentences. The matter went to the Supreme Court of Appeal as S v Lange and Others (406/95) [1997] ZASCA 74, heard on 12 September 1997 and delivered on 19 September 1997. The appeal court upheld the murder convictions, but the death sentences were set aside and the matter was remitted for resentencing because the death penalty had been declared unconstitutional.