It is believed the Prieska farmworker was buried alive Farmer gets life for murder
A WEST Coast farmer was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a seasonal farmworker from Prieska, shortly after a failed suicide attempt in a police holding cell.
Martin Visser, 45, was this week found guilty of murdering Adam Pieterse, 32, originally from Prieska in the Northern Cape, in 2015 when Pieterse was working as a seasonal farmworker in Lutzville on the West Coast.
Visser killed Pieterse by hitting him with a spade. He then dragged his body with a quad bike and forced Pieterse’s co-workers to bury him.
Visser yesterday apparently attempted to commit suicide while in a police holding cell, shortly before his sentencing was scheduled to take place in the Western Cape High Court sitting in Vredendal.
Judge Nathan Erasmus yesterday sentenced Visser to life imprisonment after the sentencing was delayed following the failed suicide attempt.
Media reports stated that Erasmus, during court proceedings yesterday morning, said that there had been an “incident” and that Visser was presently in hospital.
It is believed that Visser apparently used his jacket in an attempt to hang himself while in the police holding cell. The jacket apparently tore and Visser fell, hurting his ear. A police official apparently walked in during the attempt.
However, Visser was back in court yesterday afternoon following his hospital visit, after Erasmus turned down a request from the defence attorney to postpone the matter. He was seen sporting a plaster on his ear.
Visser initially pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm and four charges of common assault of three other people.
Visser was arrested a year and a half after the remains of Pieterse, who worked on a neighbouring farm, were found in vineyards in March 2015.
Visser, the owner of Dassieshoek farm, had operated a shop from his house where he sold alcohol and groceries to workers. Pieterse had worked on a neighbouring farm and, according to court papers, also bought goods at Visser’s shop.
The cause of death of “Mannetjie Dukvreet”, as Pieterse was commonly known, could not be confirmed owing to the state of the body. Pathologist Dr Esme Erasmus said his remains had been in an advanced state of decomposition. Pieterse had cuts on his scalp, and his brain was too decomposed to be assessed.
The State’s two main witnesses were Pieterse’s friends, Patrick Klein and Frans Klaase, who said Visser had forced them to help dispose of the body.
The trio had been drinking at Pieterse’s house on the night of his murder. Visser, according to them, had stormed in and started hitting their friend, claiming he owed him money. Visser ran a shop from the garage of his farmhouse, selling groceries and wine on credit.
The two had said that they had not tried to intervene during the attack because they had been too afraid.
Visser had instructed them to help him get their friend’s lifeless body through the back window and onto a quad bike. They drove to the back of De Hoek Farm, where the farmer ordered them to dig a grave for Pieterse.
The two witnesses were the employees of Visser’s father at the time.
In their testimony, they alleged that Visser threatened them into keeping quiet about what had happened that night.
Rural and Farmworkers Development president, Billy Claasen, said the forensic pathologist who testified in the case had suggested Pieterse may have been alive when he was buried.
“She said to the prosecutor that the injuries inflicted on Pieterse could have been done with a spade, and she said it was possible that he was still alive while he was being buried.
“The details that came out, the injuries inflicted on Pieterse, says so much about the state of mind of the perpetrator,” said Claasen.
Pieterse’s remains were discovered by police three weeks later after farmworker Hendrina “Mooimeit” Jonkers twice saw Visser in the vicinity and noticed flies buzzing around the disturbed earth when she had a closer look.
Because Pieterse’s body was decomposed, it could not be determined exactly what else Visser did to him.
The family was only able to bury Pieterse in 2016.
During the trial it emerged that Visser had assault cases involving other farmworkers going as far back as 2011, according to the State.
The defence is expected to apply for leave to appeal today.