Klaas van Wyk

Klaas van Wyk (1938 – 2009)

Brief overview:

Klaas (71), a merino sheep farmer was murdered on his farm. Neighbors who were investigating his home found him with his throat-cut on his bed in the bedroom. The small Sutherland farming community has been shaken by the brutal murder

Mrs. Elsa van der Merwe found his overturned bakkie on the gravel road between the town and the farm yesterday morning and called her husband who then went to investigate the farm. "The doors were open," her husband said. “The safe has been pulled out of the wall. The whole house was in a mess. There was blood everywhere. ” It is suspected that Mr. Van Wyk was killed in the foyer and dragged to his bedroom. "It looks like there are a lot of stab wounds in his torso. Above his hip was also a stab wound that he may have tried to cover with a plastic bag. " It was the cruelest scene he ever saw in his life, Van der Merwe said.

“Van Wyk was a peaceful person. He did not offend anyone. He was an old boy. I think he was a soft target, "Mr. Witjan Van der Merwe declared to a newspaper. The killers visited workers on another farm.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)
  • Willouw de Klerk Cilliers and his partner, Loudine van Blerk, were attacked on their farm Retseh, near Brandvlei. on 17 March. Cilliers was kidnapped by the three suspects and died in a car accident. Van Blerk was shot dead in cold blood in their farmhouse.

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
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction
  • Four suspects were to appear in the Magistrate's Court, in the town in connection with his death.
  • Mr. Wessel van der Merwe, chairman of Agri Northern Cape and Witjan's brother, requested that the suspects be given no bail. “We will submit a petition to the police here demanding the maximum penalty for the crime. In such cases, agriculture is hampering agriculture in the Northern Cape. "As an agricultural community, we have been left extremely vulnerable with the huge vacuum that prevailed after the commando system was phased out and an inefficient police reserve system was introduced."

Additional Biographical Information:

Links to Media articles:

• https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/volksblad/20151003/2816167...
• http://archive.fo/xvbBN
• https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000194554574839