Life for 2017 farm murder

A 34-year-old man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for a farm murder committed in Sannieshof in North West in 2017.

North West provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Baile Motswenyane welcomed the sentence imposed on Zacharia Nyalimathe by the North West High Court on Tuesday.

Police said that Nyalimathe was found guilty on Friday on charges of housebreaking with the intent to rob, robbery with aggravating circumstances, murder, attempted murder and another six charges under the Firearms Control Act, 2000 (Act No 60 of 2000).

Police spokesperson Colonel Adele Myburgh said: “That was after Nyalimathe and three other accused were arrested in connection with an incident in which they killed Barend Christiaan Greyling and wounded his wife, Marlett Ann Greyling, during a housebreaking and robbery on May 16, 2017, at Leeuwkuil farm in Sannieshof.”

According to Myburgh, the accused took jewellery, cellular phones, a computer, a laptop, a 9mm pistol, .303 revolver, 40 rounds of ammunition and fled the scene in the couple’s Toyota Hilux.

Nyalimathe was sentenced to life on the charge of murder and a further 68 years on the other nine charges.

Earlier in the year, his co-accused, Tebogo Lawrence Mogolotsane, 28, Joseph Zakeya, 32, and Neo Frans Khubone, 27, were each sentenced to 76 years.

Motswenyane praised the officers involved in the case, saying: “It takes disciplined and focused police officers to bring about successes of this kind and to make sure that society’s expectations of the police service are met.” – ANA