Rouxville farm attacker gets 27 years in jail

Armand Opperman has been sentenced to 27 years imprisonment for the culpable homicide and robbery of 62-year-old Lance Arthur Da Silva at the deceased’s farm in Rouxville, Free State.

Rouxville Magistrate Court sentenced Opperman, 39, for the crimes 15 months after they occurred.

Suspect flees to Gqeberha

Da Silva was found with a gunshot wound to the left temple in the main bedroom on the farm Windpoort, at about 2.30pm on 4 May last year.

Opperman, who was allegedly living with the deceased on the farm, went on the run and was arrested in Gqeberha the following day.

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He abandoned his bail application in the Rouxville Magistrate’s Court and remained in custody since then.

State could not prove murder

Mahlomola Kareli of the office of the Provincial Commissioner of the Free State explained that the case was handed over to the team of detectives from the provincial serious and violent crimes, murder and robbery unit. 

Working together with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) prosecutor, the state brought the charge of murder against Opperman but this was changed to culpable homicide when they could not prove it was a murder.

Armand Opperman was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for culpable homicide and 14 years’ direct imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances, as well as three years for possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.

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Recent farm attacks

In mid-June, the South African Police Service (SAPS) responded to at least five cases of farm attacks across the country in one week.

Most of the victims were the elderly. Some were murdered, while others were attacked and robbed of their possessions.

• In Limpopo, an elderly couple aged 79 and 85 were allegedly attacked and had their firearms stolen on a farm in the Tzaneen.

• In a separate incident, two suspects were arrested for the attack on a 69-year-old man on his farm in Barkly East, in the Eastern Cape. According to Colonel Priscilla Naidu, the elderly victim was on his way to the generator room which is about 15 metres from the house when he was attacked and stabbed in the neck by an unknown person.

•  Then, an elderly woman was killed on a farm outside Swartruggens in the North West. Her 70-year-old husband was accosted by the suspects on his arrival. They took him to the main house, where they ransacked and loaded household items onto two bakkies.

• In KwaZulu-Natal, well-known farmer Tollie Nel was shot dead on his farm, allegedly by five balaclava-clad suspects who escaped on foot with stolen firearms.

Additional reporting by Vhahangwele Nemakonde