Hendrik Andries Marais.
A 59-year-old man has been accused of attempted murder after he shot a 15-year-old boy in the Hermansburg area, Mbombela, on Saturday, Lowvelder reports.
The teenager, who cannot be named without his parents’ consent, was riding his off-road motorbike on a farm at the time. Hendrik Andries Marais, a farm manager in the area, allegedly shot at him with a shotgun. The boy was hit in the torso and legs.
Marais appeared in the Nelspruit Magistrates’ Court on Monday on a charge of attempted murder.
According to police spokesman Capt Dawie Pretorius, the teenager and his friends were riding their bikes on a farm at around 13:00.
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“For reasons unknown to us as yet, the accused shot him with a shotgun while he was riding his bike.”
An eyewitness on the scene said the teenagers had been apparently riding in a bushy area far from houses and there were no crops in the vicinity they could have damaged. “They had been riding there for years, and nobody had complained about the noise.”
He added that is was nowhere near Marais’ house.
One of the parents of a teenager who was contacted when the shooting occurred, said he was in complete shock when he got the call to say the boy was shot and there was blood coming out of his mouth. “You must understand the terror a parent goes through on hearing this.”
CSG Hi-Tech Lowveld response manager Callum MacPherson said he received a call about a boy who was shot in the area. “We went to Hermansburg with our ambulance service to assist, but he had already been taken to hospital.”
He was taken to Mediclinic Nelspruit by an unknown good Samaritan. On Sunday, he was operated on to remove the projectiles. Albert Gryvenstein of Bossies Community Justice said one was stuck behind his heart and was too risky to remove.
Mediclinic Nelspruit spokesman, Robyn Baard said on Monday that the boy was recovering well, in a stable condition and sitting up, talking to his family.
Pretorius said Marais was arrested later that afternoon when the friends of the teenager identified him as the shooter.
“We confiscated the shotgun and it has been sent away for ballistics.”
Marais was granted R10 000 bail and the matter was postponed for further investigation until December 6.
– Caxton News Service
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