Wentsel Smit

Wentsel Smit (1972 – 2012)

Brief overview:

Wentsel (40) was shot dead when four attackers invaded his home on a smallholding in Rustenburg around midnight on 25th December 2012. He and his wife, Lynette, heard a noise and found two men standing next to the bed. Lynette said they shot Wentsel twice, in the shoulder and chest, and shot her in the chest. Hers was a flesh wound and not fatal. The attackers demanded cellphones and laptops. When the perpetrators left, they shot dead all five of the couples dogs.

A few days later, Lynette noticed some activity on Wentsel’s Facebook page. The murderers were posting images of themselves with the stolen iPhone. They hadn't realised the phone was synced to Facebook and that all their pictures were automatically being loaded onto Wentsel’s page. When she informed the police, they were unable to trace the perpetrators. Andre Snyman, founder of eBlockwatch, a Community crime-fighting organisation eBlockwatch, heard about the case and investigated. He formed a group of 100 people who used technology to identify the men. They were traced to Mozambique. They handed over this information to the police. National SAPS spokesman Lieutenant-General Solomon Makgale said police would be handing the information to detectives so they could work on the case. No further reports can be found.

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
• Arrests
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction

Additional Biographical Information:

Links to Media articles:

• http://archive.fo/c8ch6
• https://web.archive.org/web/20130106014212/www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrik...
• https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-star-south-africa-earl...