Hankey farm attack case now to go to high court

The trial of a former farm worker who allegedly attacked a woman and her three children in their Hankey farmhouse earlier this year will be transferred to the Port Elizabeth High Court.

The 32-year-old man, who appeared in the Hankey Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, faces a string of charges linked to the farm attack.

The court heard that the case would be transferred to the high court for trial.

The charges include house robbery, four charges of attempted murder, four of kidnapping, one of rape, illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, theft and aggravated robbery.

The charges stem from the attack on a woman, 44, and her three children inside their farmhouse on the night of March 23.

The man, who cannot be named until he has pleaded, was caught in the KwaGuna administrative area in the Nketlana Location, near the Lesotho border, after fleeing.

Since his arrest, the man has been in court several times, with the case postponed for further investigation in each instance.

The man allegedly entered the house by firing several shots through a glass door, wounding the mother in the lower back as she tried to shield her children.

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

The man is scheduled to appear again in the same court on January 17 for a trial date in the high court.

He has been in court several times, with the case postponed for further investigation