Magdalena Regina van Wyk

Magdalena Regina van Wyk "Lena" (1926 - 1997)

Brief overview:

Lena (71), and Michael Christian van Wyk (70), a farming couple from Vryheid were beaten with an iron crowbar, and torched inside their homestead on Friday March 29th. Mike had opened the backdoor to the man – who had only worked on the farm for three months.Three then entered the homestead, said Capt Danie Hall of the murder and robbery division at Secunda. The men dragged the van Wyk couple into the kitchen and tied them up. A butane-gas bottles was brought from outside into the homestead and opened up. The perpetrators then locked all the windows and doors and threw matches into one window. Mr van Wyk was found in the kitchen, Mrs Van Wyk dragged herself to the bathroom, and her body was found there.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
  • The couple leave behind five children and ten grandchildren.
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)
  • 1997 proved to be a very difficult and tragic year for farming communities in Mpumalanga Province, suffering many fatalities, but also a clear surge in attacks around the province during the course of the year.
  • 10 people (predominantly farmers and their wives) were murdered in Mpumalanga Province during 1997. Besides Magdalena and her husband Michael, a further 9 victims lost their lives during an attack:
  • Frederik Albertus Coetser (74) from Farm Renosterhoek, section/stand 32, Sabie, was tortured and murdered, on 14/01/1997
  • John Jacob (73) was murdered on his Farm Bloekomkrans, in Lothair on 21/02/1997
  • Farmer (name unknown) (30) was murdered on the farm Goodland, near Komatipoort on 16/03/1997
  • Andries Marthinus Vermaas (Dries) (49) was shot dead on his farm in Greylingstad on 06/04/1997
  • Jan Lucas Coetzee (Jannie) (26) was shot dead near Badplaas on 20/09/1997
  • Servaas Daniël Dreyer (77) was tortured and murdered on his farm in Volksrust on 18/11/1997
  • Gerhardus Francois Scheepers (54), and his wife, Isabella Cornelia Scheepers (Nellie) (53) were beaten, tortured, then strangled on their Farm Klipkrans in Ermelo.
  • A further three people (male) have been recorded murdered during June 1997, but cannot be corroborated as details cannot be found - J Bauwer, Hoedspruit (19/06/1997); D Marnitz (60), Greylingstad (19/06/1997); Unknown Vorster, Amsterdam (19/06/1997)
• Attacks during 1997 where the victims survived:
  • 02/1997: Farmer Burelli was attacked, assaulted and robbed on his Farm Gevind in Balfour.
  • 11/03/1997: Johanna Kruger (90), and her daughter, also Johanna (55), were attacked by a gang of 6 men. They were tied up, kicked, attacked and robbed on their Farm Kromdraai, in Leslie.
  • 18/02/1997: Farmer WJJ Botha (82) was overpowered on the porch of his farmhouse, tied up and robbed. Witpoort, Greylingstad.
  • 17/03/1997: Maria Franca (73), and her daughter, Helen Franca (39), were attacked and robbed on their farm in White River. Maria was kicked repeatedly and suffered injuries on her back and coccyx. Helen suffered a broken nose and other facial injuries.
  • 06/2007: Lourens Haasbroek (38) attacked on his farm in Rayton, Cullinan.
  • 20/06/1997: Julian Groenewald and his wife Maretha were overpowered, tied up, assaulted, then robbed, on their farm Vredenrus, Ermelo.
  • 24/06/1997: Anna Houerst, and her housekeeper (44), were overpowered by 3 attackers armed with knives, tied up and robbed on smallholding Eloff in Sundra.
  • 24/06/1997: Peter Cooks (69) and his daughter and her two children were overpowered at gunpoint and held hostage while their home was robbed on their Sundra smallholding.
  • 20/09/1997: Pieter Willem Adriaan Nel (60) was hit on the head with a glass bottle and an axe before he was robbed on his smallholding in Perdekop.
  • 04/10/1997: Jack (69) and Isabel (64) Botes, as well as one of their workers, were overpowered and robbed on their smallholding in Leeupoort, Delmas. Jack and the worker were tied up. Isabel was assaulted with a spade and throttled.
  • 01/12/1997: Robin Frost (63), and farm worker Gert Masumbuka (82), were attacked on their farm in Delmas by a gang of men who pretended to be interested in buying cattle. Robin was seriously injured.
  • 03/12/1997: Barney Muller (72), and his wife Lenie (69) were attacked inside their home, Farm Winkelhaak, Kinross, near Secunda. Barney was shot in the arm.
  • 10/12/1997: Sarel Francois Coetzer (75) was overpowered, assaulted and robbed on his farm Woetalleen, in Hendrina.

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
  • Two suspects aged 19, and allegedly 15 years old, were arrested.
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction

EXTRACT FROM THE COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY INTO FARM MURDERS, FINAL REPORT 2003.

“PERPETRATORS: A comprehensive study in this regard, ‘Perpetrators of farm attacks: an offender profile’ had already been undertaken by D. Mistry and J. Dhlamini, attached to the Institute for Human Rights and Criminal Justice Studies at Tecknicon SA. They interviewed some 48 offenders who had committed farm attacks in 1997 and 1998 and who were serving prison sentences in prisons in Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal, North West, Limpopo, Free State and Mpumalanga."

Case study 5:

"Mpumalanga - All three perpetrators were under the age of 18 when they committed the offence. One of them had been an employee of the elderly couple. He says they took three weeks to plan the attack.

They had attempted the attack twice before, but failed to carry it through. Their motive for the attack was to steal money. The co-accused was a younger brother and their friend.

The perpetrator says that after he had knocked off from the farm that afternoon, his friend and younger brother arrived. They overpowered the old man and demanded money from him. He refused to give them money, therefore one of them took a steel pipe and assaulted the old man.

The old man collapsed and then they demanded money from the old lady, who also refused to tell them where the money was kept. She told them to look for it on their own. They ransacked the house but did not find anything.

The perpetrator then closed all the windows in the victims’ house, released gas from a gas cylinder, locked the victims inside and set the house on fire. The couple died as a result of this. He says that he set the house on fire because he was afraid that the couple would call the police and identify him after he had left.

The police arrested him and his two accomplices a day after the attack. He confessed to the police."

Additional Biographical Information:

• ID Number : 2602120016085
• Official cause of death : Unnatural causes

Links to Media articles:

• http://archive.is/wIAUW
• https://africacheck.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Final-Report-Com...
• https://archive.is/KaTTx
• https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0UlqSM-_mwDNWJlZmMxNmYtNGMwMS00Yz...