Pieter Johannes Hattingh

Pieter "Piet" Hattingh (1921 - 2003)

Brief overview:

Piet (80), was assaulted and mutilated on his farm Doringfontein, about 30km outside Roedtan, on January 15th 2003. He was stabbed in the head and torso with a sharp object, and died in hospital four days after the attack due of the seriousness of the injuries he sustained.

His attackers climbed over a security fence around the house at night, broke a kitchen window bent away the burglar bars.They ambushed and assaulted the sleeping Hatting in his bed and then gained access to his safe.

The three suspects were apprehended and appeared in court. Judge Smit questioned, if their motive was only theft, why didn't they just lock Mr Hattingh in a room.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)
  • Attie Vermaak, retired city clerk of Polokwane who was the previous Monday shot in the stomach while sitting in his bakkie near his farm outside the city.

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
  • They took five guns, a revolver and an unknown amount of cash from the safe, but these were later recovered .
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
• Torture, Gratuitous violence
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.
  • Theft was not the reason for the farm murder of Piet Hattingh of Roedtan in the Northern Transvaal. Judge JMC Smit made it unequivocally clear in his ruling that there were other motives hiding behind the murder. He emphasized that reports indicating that theft is the motive for farm murders, does not apply in this case.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions
• Arrests
  • Police arrested one suspect, Sello Moima (25), from the Marble Hall area, he is being held after he briefly appeared in court in Mokopane (Potgietersrus).
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction
  • In addition to life imprisonment, he sentenced the three each to 15 years in prison for burglary sentenced, and 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances, 8 years for possession of illegal unlicensed firearms, and three years for the illegal possession of ammunition. He has no choice but to determine that all these sentences must be served at the same time, as the law so provides. The result is that they are unlikely to spend more than 20 years behind bars.

Additional Biographical Information:

• Identity Number : 2206075028085
• Cause of death : Unnatural causes M/R NO43/2003

Links to Media articles:

• http://archive.fo/l2c9A
• https://archive.is/7UPUC
• https://graves-at-eggsa.org/main.php?g2_itemId=1415048