CPF VICE CHAIRMAN SHOT DEAD
- Buks Viljoen
Lowvelder 13 JULY 2004
WHITE RIVER - A 71-year-old pensioner of the Vergenoeg small holdings near the town, Mr Dave Haywood, was shot dead in cold blood on Friday night.
According to Capt Erhard Ströh, comman-der of the detective branch in the town, Haywood and his wife were alone on Friday night at around 22:00 in their house on the farm Vergenoeg. When the dogs started barking Haywood, who was also the vice- chairman of the community policing forum, took a torch and went outside to investigate.
Moments after he left the house, a number of shots rang out. His wife called him but when he did not respond, she locked the security gate and activated the panic button in the house.
The police were called. When the security company arrived a few minutes later, they found Haywood lying about 10 metres from the house in the driveway.
He was dead, lying in a pool of blood with the torch still clutched in his hand. He had been shot through the heart. Two empty cartridges were found on the scene.
The dog unit was called out when the police found traces of a blood spoor on the scene. It is suspected that one of Haywood’s dogs managed to bite one of the attackers during the incident, Ströh said.
The search was however hampered when the dogs lost the spoor on one of the roads near the farm.
At this stage the motive for the attack is unknown and only Haywood’s wallet is missing.
The police are investigating the possibility that the Haywood murder might be linked to two other farm attacks in the same area over the past few weeks. In one of the incidents the well-known South African artist René Eloff, was attacked and assaulted in her home by two youths, only a few kilometres from the scene of the Haywood murder.
