South Africa: Three in court over brutal murder of British expat's wife

Three suspects were on Monday presented before a Belfast court, charged with violent robbery at a remote South African farm in which a Northern Ireland man was tortured and his wife murdered.

The three, who are aged between 23 and 32, are accused of a series of offences linked to the horrific attack on Robert Lynn and Susan Howarth.

Sue Howarth, 64, and her husband Robert Lynn, 66, were asleep when they were attacked in their farmhouse near the trout fishing village of Dullstroom around 3am on Sunday morning, said Johan Pieterse, the manager of the security company that found the couple.

“The attackers broke into the house through a window and demanded cash,” he told UK Newspaper The Telegraph“There was no money in the house so they used a blow torch on them.”

Robert survived, but his wife succumbed to the injuries in hospital, and police said she had been left unrecognisable from her injuries.

A demonstration also took place at the sidelines of the hearings as farmers in the Belfast region protested against the government’s lack of action to ensure their safety. The suspects were sent back to prison and their trial will resumes on March 10.

According to a civil rights group Afriforum, Ms. Howarth is the 15th person in South Afric to have been murdered in a farm attack, in February.