A horrific slaughter of 14 lambs and sheep was reported at the De Leeuwenhof Estate in Klein Drakenstein last Tuesday (15 February).
The following day, the proprietor Daan van Leeuwen Boomkamp, said: “Last night our animal pen of the guest house at Sonstraal Road got a visit by a group of men, murdering and butchering our lambs and sheep. Our animals were part of our hospitality offering and especially our guests’ children loved our tame sheep. Police responded to the scene and opened a case.”
Graphic images depict a scene so gruesome very few people would be able to stomach it. Numerous sheep intestines were strewn in a pile on the grass, with several heads of black-headed sheep chopped-off and scattered. The sheep’s meat was butchered and was nowhere to be found.
“It was truly devastating, they were our pets, and each had a name,” a sad Van Leeuwen Boomkamp said.
Another farmer in the area, Clint de Winnaar, was also a target of theft on his partner’s farm, where he resides and works on Leliefontein Farm in Keerweder Road, Paarl.
“We’ve been targeted multiple times over the years and more recently, there where three separate incidents in a matter of eight days that happened this past December.”
De Winnaar said a total of 35 sheep had been stolen (each weighing 80 kg on average) adding up to a loss of R100 000.
“I suspect it’s organised crime or a syndicate because those men definitely knew exactly what they were doing. All the sheep intestines were neatly grouped, clean cut – properly butchered.”
He said these criminals would commonly be armed with knives and cut the farm’s electrical fencing to gain access near the N1, with an escape route through another cut fence through to Du Toit’s Kloof pass.
“I have not bothered to open a case with police, I feel it’s futile and it won’t make a difference.”
This, yet again, highlights the issue of criminal activity on farms in which producers’ assets are vulnerable to the wolves of the rural underworld. Despite arrests being performed followed by pleads to charges of theft in court, it is alleged by multiple stakeholders in the farming community that convicted thieves are back on the streets in a matter of days.
The Paarl Post enquired records from Agri Western Cape regarding the issue of livestock and fruit theft in Drakenstein.
“It’s difficult to indicate the monetary value of fruit theft in the Drakenstein Valley, since there is no statistic available that captures the issue in its entirety with complete accuracy,” explained Adéle Changuion, Agri’s liaison officer.
Even though this only gives an indication or estimate, the figures that Agri Western Cape has drawn from the Paarl-area regarding such losses range between R40 000 to R600 000.
“Fruit theft has always been a problem, but it has undoubtedly worsened. We hold the opinion that the entirety of the issue is far larger than just individuals stealing a bag of fruit when looking at the losses involved. Local government can definitely do more to regulate illegal/unlicensed fruit sellers, but curbing fruit theft would need to entail a combined effort by law enforcement (such as traffic and police officers), the courts and especially the public.”
Changuion added there remains unclear who is responsible for enforcing laws, in addition to the difficulty of proving whom the stolen fruit being sold belongs to.
Currently, the murder of Chatwell Rogers is on the courts’ roll, in which Jan (JT) Basson and John Woest is being brought to book for his murder on the Sontraal Road off-ramp to the N1 30 November last year, in which several sources allege Rogers was a suspected fruit thief.
The court case has yet to distinguish allegation from fact, however, as control prosecutor at the Paarl Magistrates’ office Advocate Nathan Johnson once said: “If police performed their investigations properly with sufficient training, there would be no need for certain groups in the community to turn vigilante and take law into their own hands. This is why such tragic incidents occur in the farming community, for there is no real grip on theft in rural areas.”
Some allege local prisons exceed their capacity, which could be one of the reasons convicts walk freely following a mere slap on the wrist for theft on farms. Considered small crimes, that if all were recorded in the bigger scheme, reflect great losses.
Paarl police spokesperson, Capt Louise du Plessis confirmed the incident.
“The incident is being investigated by the stock theft unit. As part of the investigation it was discovered that the owner of the sheep did not properly mark the sheep, resulting into the owner being investigated according to the stock theft act. The investigation continues,” she said..Heleen.Rossouw@paarlpost.co.za
