Man accused of house robbery shot dead after trying to kill witness in ongoing case

A 21-year-old man, shot dead on a farm in Oudedorp near Potchefstroom on Friday night, was suspected of having gone to the farm to kill a witness in another farm attack that the suspect was involved in.

According to police, the suspect, who had been identified as Koane Potlaki, first allegedly accosted a police officer and robbed him of his service pistol before going to the farm in the North West.

Once on the farm, he approached a group of farmworkers near a water tank.

Ambushing the workers, he forced them to phone the farmer to tell him that their vehicle wasn’t working, in an attempt to get the farmer to come to the water tank, Marius Muller, the national operations coordinator for safety at AfriForum said.

As the farmer arrived at the water tank, Koane allegedly opened fire, hitting the 32-year-old farmer in the chest.

The farmer returned fire, killing Potlaki on the scene.

Muller said the farmer sustained two wounds, as one bullet entered his chest and exited out his back. The farmer was rushed to hospital and was operated on.

Police spokesperson Colonel Amanda Funani confirmed the incident, adding that the police had opened an inquest.

It further emerged that the farmer was a witness in another matter in which Potlaki was an accused.

“The farmer was a witness in an ongoing house robbery case that the suspect was arrested for last year November,” Funani said.

Following the arrest, Potlaki was released on bail.

Muller said it was clear that Potlaki knew where he was going and that his intentions were to kill the witness in the matter against him.

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