Lynette Ralfe

Lynette Ralfe (1946 - 2010)

Brief overview:

The Ralfe's have been farming their Doornkop farm, in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal for four generations. Lynette's (64) husband, Nigel Ralfe (71), was milking the cows when four men came into the yard asking to buy milk. When he told them he had none to sell, he was shot at point blank range. Bleeding from wounds to his neck and arm, Mr Ralfe was pistol-whipped before being marched to the farmhouse where Lynette was bathing the couple's three granddaughters - 20 months, 4 and 5 years old.

"I had no choice but tell my wife to come and unlock the back door which she did. As soon as she opened the door, they shot her three times. She didn't even have time to speak," Mr Ralfe said. Mrs Ralfe staggered into her bedroom, bleeding heavily from the chest, and collapsed on her bed where she died soon after. As the gang ransacked the house, the bewildered children emerged from the bathroom to find their grandmother dead in a bloodied bed. Eventually, the attackers fled, taking only some binoculars, a phone and an old pistol. The attack on Doornkop farm would normally be expected to receive only modest media coverage such is the frequency of rural violence. However, it was the third farm killing over a single weekend – all brutal and apparently without clear motives.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)
  • 20/06/2011: "The local farming community has nothing but high praise for the sterling work being done by a group of dedicated policemen attached to Pietermaritzburg’s Organised Crime Unit under the command of Colonel Piet Scott, who lay claim to a near 100 percent success rate in solving farm murders in the KZN Midlands since 2003.
  • Of the nineteen Midlands farm murder cases handled by the team dating back to the murder of Shaun Clark in Camperdown (2003), only one, arising from the murder of Philip Rudolph Buys in Weenen in September 2003, is classed as “unsolved”. The unit arrested a total of 50 culprits in connection with the eighteen “solved” cases with 24 of the killers sentenced to life imprisonment and others receiving sentences ranging from an effective 30 years imprisonment to 18 years imprisonment.
  • The midlands farm murder cases that have been solved by the team include the murders of: Shaun Clark of Camperdown (2003); Johannes Willem Bruwer (Camperdown, 2003); Parvathie Surapen (Thornville, 2003); Charles Hyett Shepherd (Bergville, 2003); Nora Joyce Gevers (Wartburg, 2004); David Boyd Varty (Rietvlei, 2005); Trevor Anthony Weightman Trevor Weightman (Winterton, 2005); Jacqueline Ivy Chatterton (Boston, 2005); Ezra Arieh Podolski (Eric) (Cramond, 2006); Andrew Roy Main (Cramond, 2007); David Merwyn Green (Estcourt, 2007); Alan Rowe (Rietvlei, 2009); Erasmus Mncube Erasmus Mncube (and attack on his employers, Collin and Nola Barrett at Nottingham Road in 2009); Dr. Warwick Anthony Dorning (Mpophomeni, 2009); Lynette Ralfe (Colenso, 2010); Lorraine Karg , Hilda Linyane, Zakeue Shayi Mhlongo (Mooi River, 2010) and Radash Anandlal (Cramond, 2010)
  • Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Joey Jeevan, said the management of the SAPF commends Colonel Scott and the unit for their “sterling investigation and their dedication to duty”."
    • http://archive.fo/oos7b
  • 71 farm murders in Colenso, Winterton rural areas between 2001 and 2011, Since 2001 there have been 17 Farmers and around 54 staff / community members murdered on 83 farms in Winterton, Colenso and surrounding areas.

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
  • When the attackers fled, they took only some binoculars, a phone and an old pistol.
• 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
  • On March 17 2010 two of the perpetrators, Bhekinkosi Mchunu (29), and Dumisani Hadebe (38), appeared in the Colenso Magistrate’s Court charged with the murder of Lynette, and attempted murder of Nigel.

Additional Biographical Information:

Links to Media articles:

• http://archive.fo/Rp5AE
• http://archive.fo/9yZkc
• https://tinyurl.com/y3x4sy6f
• http://archive.fo/wMh1Q
• http://archive.fo/pvqp5
• https://archive.ph/p11yZ
• https://web.archive.org/web/20100418045234/http://findarticles.com/...
• https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000194812616829