UPDATE – Body found, 4 arrested for Hartswater family kidnapping

The body of one of three family members kidnapped from a smallholding in Hartswater in the Northern Cape has been found and four people have been arrested.

It was earlier reported that Danie Brand, 83, his wife, Breggie, 73, and their daughter, Elzabie, 54, who visited her parents over the weekend, had been missing since Sunday, along with their vehicles.

Netwerk24 reported that guests arrived at the couple’s home on Monday afternoon, only to find it deserted, ransacked and bloodstained.

One of the couple’s cars, a Nissan Micra, was reportedly found in Taung in the North West.

ALSO READ: Police search for elderly couple and daughter abducted from Northern Cape farm

On Tuesday, Marius Müller, national operations coordinator at AfriForum, told News24 that a body, believed to be that of Elzabie or Breggie, had been found during the course of Monday night. “What we need now is more support on the ground to find the other two bodies,” Müller said.

Müller confirmed that the Brands’ family had been informed of the development and that trauma counsellors were en route to Hartswater to lend support.

“Four people were taken into custody just after 23:00 on Monday – three men and a woman – although the woman is not a suspect. They were found in Elzabie’s stolen Mazda, which had been fitted with fake number plates.

“At around 02:00 on Tuesday morning the suspects attempted to point out where the other bodies were, but they apparently got confused. I cannot say what [the suspects] did to them at this stage.”

Northern Cape police spokesperson Captain Olebogeng Tawana confirmed the arrests and that a body had been found. National police spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo could not immediately be reached for comment.

This is a developing story.

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