Thousands of Lutzville residents have petitioned the court to deny the bail application of farmer Christoffel Stoman who is accused of mowing down a six-year-old boy with his bakkie.
Angry residents protested outside the Vredendal Magistrate’s Court on Monday as the 70-year-old boer proceeded with his bail application.
Stoman is facing two counts of attempted murder and a charge of reckless and negligent driving after after six-year-old Kwezi Jantjies was run over with a bakkie and both the child’s legs were broken.
It is alleged that Stoman saw the child trying to steal fruit from his farm.
Billy Claasen of the Rural and Farmworkers Development Organisation said the boy was walking with his mother Magrieta when the incident occurred.
His mother was not injured.
The little boy subsequently underwent surgery at Paarl hospital and is recovering.
Yesterday his mother joined Claasen at court where he read out a petition signed by more than 1500 residents to keep the boer behind bars.
During court proceedings Stoman’s legal team called his wife Magdalene and brother-in-law Alain Nicholas Grobelar to testify in his defence.
Grobelar, an 80-year-old retired cop, said he visited the crime scene “to take measurements for interest sake”, according to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila.
“He wanted to make his own observations so that he would know. He emphasised that he did not interfere with the police investigation.”
Magdalene told the court she was in the vehicle but claimed she did not know how the child landed under the bakkie.
According to her, she and Stoman both have cancer and were on their way home from the oncologist that day when she saw Kwezi’s hand “was through the fence”.
She asked her husband to stop so that they can see what they were doing. She said Kwezi was on her side of the road and his mother on the other side.
Magdalene claimed the boy’s mother screamed that he was under the vehicle and she told her husband to reverse.
She claimed the boy was not under vehicle but under the front bumper and when they offered to to help, the mother allegedly told them that “they don’t need help, she knew what she was gonna do and they were gonna pay.”
She said the mother picked up the boy and pulled him towards Luztville. Her husband then called the cops.
The case was postponed to Friday, 4 October, for her cross examination.
monique.duval@inl.co.za