A 21-year-old farmer from Viljoenskroon appeared in court on Monday for charges of attempted murder after he allegedly shot a “corn thief”.
Free State police spokesman Motantsi Makhele says the 16-year-old boy and his friends were in a cornfield on a farm outside Viljoenskroon around 18:00 on Wednesday when a group of men allegedly shot at them in a bakkie. The children apparently wanted to steal corn.
The boy was shot in his stomach. His friends fled.
Makhele said the victim was loaded onto the bakkie by the group of men and allegedly assaulted and humiliated.
Makhele says he was treated at the local hospital but later transferred to a hospital in Kroonstad.
The farmer was arrested on Thursday
