Man in court charged with Hankey attack

THE man who allegedly attacked a woman and her three children in a Hankey farmhouse last month appeared in the Patensie Magistrate’s Court yesterday morning.

The man, 32, who cannot be named until he has pleaded, was caught last week after fleeing the town.

Yesterday, police confirmed he was a former farm employee of the family.

The arrest was made after police tracked the suspect to a small town near Palmietfontein – about 3km from the Lesotho border.

This follows the attack on a woman, 44, and her three children, who were accosted inside their farmhouse during the late hours of March 23 and into the early hours of March 24.

A group of farmers and residents gathered at the courthouse to show support for the woman.

The woman is not being identified due to the nature of the attack.

By 11am the man had been charged and will remain in custody while detectives continue their investigation.

Police spokeswoman Colonel Priscilla Naidu said after consulting with the state prosecutor, a decision was made to change the charges.

The man was charged with two counts of rape, house robbery, four counts of kidnapping, three counts of attempted murder, theft, robbery and illegal possession of a firearm.

“At this stage, the case is still under investigation and various aspects of the probe are still under way. This includes an identity parade that has to be held,” she said.

“We can confirm that he used to be employed by the family and worked on their farm until December 2016.”

The arrest comes after a team of detectives from the Port Elizabethbased Provincial Organised Crime Investigation unit travelled to the Palmietfontein area last Wednesday.

The team tracked the man down to a family home in the KwaGuna administrative area in the Nketlana Location, near the Lestho border.

Police found stolen clothing and takkies taken during the incident.

The incident saw a lone attacker enter the house by firing several shots through a glass door, wounding the mother in the lower back while she was trying to shield her children.

He took the woman in her vehicle to an ATM to withdraw cash and she then managed to escape.

He will appear again on April 16.