Man's body found in shallow grave near Robertson after 'stealing grapes'

Southern Cape police are investigating a murder after the body of man was found in a shallow grave on a farm outside Robertson, last Thursday.

It is alleged that Peter October was beaten to death after he stole grapes on a nearby farm.

PICTURE: Pixabay

The Rural and Farmworkers Development Organization has condemned the attack.

‘’A lot of allegations and rumours are going around as to who is responsible for his death, but we will leave that to the Investigation team of the SAPS. We do not promote any lawlessness and have asked people to not steal grapes from farmers or anything from anyone.  With this said we call on farmers to contact the SAPS in times like these and stop making use of these security companies,’’ said the organisation’s Executive Director, Billy Claasen.

‘’Some of these companies are operating like vigilante groups and they "skop, donner en bliksem" our poor people in certain areas. This incident is similar to the one earlier this year in De Doorns where a person also died after a brutal attack by security guards. This let us also think about the killing of a resident in Paarl last year. This needs to stop,’’ he added.

Claasen has called on Police to prioritise the case.

‘’We call on the Police and courts to do their work properly and also to impose harsher sentence for crimes like these so that these kind of evil attacks in the Agricultural industry stop. We call on the Provincial Commissioner of SAPS to appoint a Provincial team of Detectives to investigate this poor man's death.’’

‘’We urge the police to leave no stone unturned and to catch the culprits responsible for the death of Peter October. We need to live and work in a safe environment and in harmony with each other. We need to take hands as farming communities to make our environment a better place to live and work in and to grow our economy,’’ added Claasen.

 

Done By: Mitchum George