Johannes Josias Els

Johannes Els (1927 - 1991)

Brief overview:

Johannes (63), and his wife Anna Catharina were attacked at their farm Fairview, near Viljoenskroon, on 28/03/1991. Johannes was hacked, stabbed, and shot.

While the deceased was waiting near the paddock gate he was attacked by the three accused who had been hiding behind a stone-walled shed in the vicinity. One of them, armed with a panga, inflicted a gaping wound on his back below the left shoulder blade. This wound penetrated through the ribs into the left lung. Another assailant, armed with a pitch-fork, stabbed him on the right side of his chest. Both prongs of the fork inflicted wounds, one of which penetrated into the thoracic cavity. The appellant was armed with the .38 Special Taurus revolver which had been stolen from Mr Viljoen some six weeks earlier. He fired one, and possibly two shots, at the deceased one of which hit him in the left side of his chest between the clavicle and the sternum. The path of the bullet was from left to right passing through the apex of the left lung, through the arch of the aorta, through the posterior aspect of the right lung, and causing multiple fractures of the sixth and seventh ribs. The spent bullet was found under the skin on the right side of the chest.

When Mrs Els heard the shots being fired she ran to a spot where she could see what was going on. She saw her husband standing with his pistol in his hand and the appellant some five metres away from him pointing his revolver at the deceased. She also saw the other two assailants running away towards a nearby maize field. As Mrs Els moved towards her husband the three dogs rushed at the appellant causing him, too, to turn and run. The deceased called to his wife to telephone the police, and when she asked him whether he could walk he replied that he could not. Mrs Els thereupon ran back to the farmhouse and tried to telephone the police but was unable to get through, so she abandoned the attempt and ran back to her husband. When she got there he was already dead. The police and the neighbours were then summoned and they came to her assistance.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
• Torture, Gratuitous violence
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions
• Arrests
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
  • Johannes Machini Khiba and two others
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction
  • S v Khiba (51/92) [1993] ZASCA 45 (30 March 1993)
  • The appeal was dismissed.
  • " I therefore share the view of the trial judge that this is one of those exceptionally serious cases where the death sentence is imperatively called for and where it is the only proper sentence."

Additional Biographical Information:

Els and his wife lived alone on the farm Fairview. They had lived there for the past 40 years. They kept no farm labourers and conducted all the farming operations themselves. (There was some indication that at times one of their five sons, who farmed in the Vredefort district, would bring some of his farm labourers to assist in certain operations on Fairview.)

• Identity Number: 2709135011082
• Cause of Death: WORD ONDERSOEK

Links to Media articles:

• https://archive.ph/rjq3c (Court document)