Van Zyl murder: Farm attacker gets two life sentences
The ruling at the Limpopo Division of the High Court in Polokwane comes almost four years after Piet van Zyl and his wife Tilla were viciously attacked in their home on a game farm outside Zebediela.
POLOKWANE – The Limpopo Division of the High Court in Polokwane on Tuesday (August 24) sentenced a 37-year-old man to two life sentences for the double murders of the Van Zyl couple.
Convicted farm murderer, Mpho Penuel Mbuyane was convicted on two counts of murder and three counts of house robbery. “He was sentenced to two life imprisonment terms for the double murders and a further 15 years’ imprisonment for the house robberies,” police spokespeson Brig Motlafela Mojapelo said in a statement.
This ruling comes almost four years after Piet Van Zyl (68) and his 66-year-old wife Tilla were attacked and killed on the Kalkpoort Game farm, in the Immerpan district near Zebediela. Their bodies were discovered by a family member the following morning at around 09:00.
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At the time Review’s sister newspaper Bosveld had an interview with Steven Vermaak, Director of the Heritage Protection Group (HPG), who conducted the investigation with the police.
“Firstly I want to make it clear that the Van Zyl’s were not tortured. The suspects seemingly gained access to the house through the glass door on the balcony. Piet was still awake in the bed while watching television. The suspects shot Piet three times in the legs and one fatal shot in the chest.
“Tilla was shot once in the groin and it is alleged the suspects threw her to the ground and she hit her head hard as her cause of death was determined to be due to bleeding on the brain,” Vermaak told Bosveld.
The suspects emptied the safe and stole an unknown number of firearms. According to Vermaak, it is alleged the five suspects disabled the alarm very fast and got access to the premises before Piet could react.
“The guard at the store noticed the back door was open the following morning and that there was no movement in the house. He raised the alarm and one of the farmworkers called the Van Zyl’s son, Jurgens.”
An intelligence-driven operation was established to track down the suspect(s). The team was comprised of members of the Crime Intelligence, Limpopo Tracking team, Limpopo Provincial Investigation unit and Heritage Protection Group (HPG) Private Security company.
Eight suspects were arrested in September 2017. Six suspects were arrested in Hazyview, Mpumalanga, the seventh in Mookgophong and the eighth in Lenasia, Gauteng.
Read more: Eight arrested suspects ‘positively linked’ to Van Zyl’s murder
“During the trial the court heard how Mbuyane had entered the van Zyl’s home and attacked the elderly couple, robbed them and shot both Piet and Tilla. Both victims succumbed to their wounds at the scene and the intruder then fled the scene with valuable properties robbed from the house,” Mojapelo said.
The charges against seven of the suspects were dropped during the trial proceedings and only Mbuyane was positively linked to these crimes, Mojapleo added.
“The case was assigned to warrant officer Pila, attached to the Provincial Detective unit, who worked tirelessly, assisted by the said team, to ensure that the suspect was ultimately incarcerated for life.”
The provincial police commissioner, Lt Genl Thembi Hadebe, and the police management in the province have welcomed the heft sentence.
“This sentence should send a clear message to other criminals that the police will always be relentless when pursuing perpetrators of horrendous crimes and make sure they are brought to book,” Hadebe concluded.
