- Four people have been arrested after a farmer from Hennenman was shot dead by robbers who attacked them on Thursday night.
- The farmer's son was stabbed and taken to a nearby hospital.
- One of the suspects was found hanging in his cell on Saturday morning.
Free State police have arrested four people in connection with the murder of a Hennenman farmer. One of the suspects was found dead while in custody.
The farmer was shot dead and his son stabbed by robbers who attacked them during the course of Thursday night.
Netwerk24 identified the murdered farmer as Pieter Hills. He was 56.
Free State police spokesperson Brigadier Motantsi Makhele said Anna Bochedi - a domestic worker who works on the farm Swartpan - found the two men at around 05:00 on Friday.
Hills' wife, Antoinette, had called Bochedi because she was concerned after she had tried in vain to get hold of her husband and son.
Bochedi alerted relatives after she found Hills' body and his 26-year-old son, Eddie, who had been stabbed. Hills was declared dead at the scene, while Eddie was taken to a nearby hospital.
It is suspected that two or three handguns were stolen during the robbery.
"The Hennenman Detectives and Crime Prevention [unit] worked round the clock… after a farmer and his son were attacked at their farm in Swartpan. They conducted a crime intelligence-led operation and arrested four suspects in Phomolong Hennenman [on Friday night]," Makhele said.
One of the suspects, aged 47, was found hanging in his cell in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The other three suspects, all in their 30s, will appear in the Hennenman Magistrate's Court soon on charges of murder and house robbery.
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