South African Farm Worker Freed as State Witness in Pig Farm Murders
Adrian de Wet has had murder charges dropped after he agreed to testify about the killings of two women whose bodies were fed to pigs.
South African prosecutors have dropped charges against farm supervisor Adrian de Wet, accused in the killings of two women whose bodies were fed to pigs in Limpopo province.
Defendant turned witness
De Wet, 20, was one of three men charged with murdering Maria Makgato, 45, and Lucia Ndlovu, 34, who were reportedly searching for food on a pig farm near Polokwane last August. Prosecutors say the victims' bodies were given to pigs to destroy evidence.
When the trial opened, de Wet agreed to testify that farm owner Zachariah Johannes Olivier shot the women and that he was forced under duress to dispose of their bodies in the pig enclosure.
Ongoing trial
Farm worker William Musora, 50, and owner Olivier, 60, remain in custody and have not yet entered pleas. De Wet will stay in protective custody until the trial concludes on 6 October.
The case has provoked widespread outrage and heightened racial tensions in South Africa, where most farmland remains under white ownership while the majority of farm workers are black and poorly paid.
Follow-up
The trial resumes on 6 October.
De Wet's release in exchange for testimony sheds light on the violent deaths of two women and highlights enduring racial and economic divides in rural South Africa.
This topic was reported by BBC.
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