Robert McNeil

Robert McNeil - (1945 - 2005)

Brief overview:

Robert (60), a Bronkhorstspruit farmer was attacked with a wheel spanner by four men on his farm on 1st May 2005.

A neighbour took him to hospital, but he died the following day due to complications after a peptic ulcer started bleeding. An autopsy revealed that McNeil also suffered severe head injuries.

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
• 3
• Arrests
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
  • Joseph Kobele (18), Antonie Sithole (18), and Joseph Sithole (33)
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction
  • 26/08/2008: The Pretoria High Court has convicted three men of the murder of Robert McNeil. Judge John Murphy found Joseph Kobele, Antonie Sithole, and Joseph Sithole, guilty of murdering and robbing 60-year-old Robert McNeil in May 2005. They were also convicted of kidnapping and severely assaulting Pieter de Beer on the same farm outside Bronkhorstspruit in May 2005.
  • Three men were convicted of his murder in the Pretoria High Court by Judge John Murphy - Joseph Kobele (18), Antonie Sithole (18), and Joseph Sithole (33). The fingerprints of Kobele and Antonie Sithole were found on a television set taken from McNeil's house and left outside under a tree. Joseph Sithole was also linked to the scene through fingerprints.
  • The defence argued that the attack on McNeil could not be linked to his death as he could have died because of the negligence of hospital staff, who realised too late that he was bleeding internally. Judge Murphy said he had no doubt that the assault was the cause of McNeil's death.
  • They were also convicted of kidnapping and severely assaulting Pieter de Beer on the same farm. Police found Antonie Sithole's shirt, with De Beer's blood on it, on the roof of the shack where the three were arrested. Joseph Sithole's claims that he was at the house "by accident" and had "accidentally" left samples of his DNA and fingerprints were rejected. The fourth perpetrator, Joseph Mashaba (27), was acquitted on all charges due to lack of evidence against him.

Additional Biographical Information:

Links to Media articles:

• http://web.archive.org/web/20080830092855/http://www.news24.com/New...
• https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000188542917866