Farmer guilty of stock theft

TARKA farmer Antonie Noppe van Heerden, 29, was granted R10 000 bail on Friday after being sentenced to five years and 10 years respectively on two counts of stock theft committed between 2010 and 2012 from neighbouring farms.

The sentences will run concurrently.

Van Heerden will now appear before the Queenstown Regional Court on June 5 for judgement on his application for leave to appeal.

The Rep reported (“Sentence due in May,” April 17) that the case had been postponed to May 21 for sentencing.

In handing down the sentence on Thursday, magistrate Nosisa Ngcongolo said stock theft was a serious offence. “When taking the de- cision the court was guided by the principle of personal circumstances, the nature of the offence and the interests of the community.”

Van Heerden had been convicted of stealing 22 goats which were recovered from his farm. “The goats had the tags of the complainant and the accused’s tag on top of them. The second count is the theft of 66 head of stock which was never recovered. In the first count, you drove to the complainant’s house and loaded his stock. In the second you used his employees to take the stock to your farm,” Ngcongolo said.

“There is an increase in stock theft. Many labourers lose their jobs and end up being involved in stock theft as it is a vicious circle.

“The accused’s mo- tive was greed. He has showed no remorse and has provided no explanation to the court. The value of the stock is more than R600 000, but this value is not conclusive as there was no one to confirm it and the state did not properly address that.”

Farmers were vulnerable to this type of offence which was difficult to prevent and detect. “This calls for harsher sentences,” she said.

The correctional supervision report had shortcomings. The complainant and the community were not contacted when it was compiled.

Ngcongolo said the court took into consideration deterrence, retribution and rehabilitation when making its decision.

The defence attorney lodged an application for leave to appeal the sentence and the conviction.

The defence claimed there was no direct evidence which linked Van Heerden to the offences, the witnesses contradicted themselves and the court had no grounds to reject evidence by Van Heerden.

The defence argued that another court may come to a different view when dealing with the case and asked for bail.

State prosecutor Nkosinathi Faxi opposed bail and asked the court not to grant leave to appeal.

“The three witnesses corroborated each other and no other court will come to another conclusion. Farming is the backbone of the economy. When farmers stop farming people will lose their jobs, unemployment will escalate and that will affect food security.”

The sentence was appropriate and no other court would come to a different conclusion, Fani stated.