Silence Mabunda was run over by a 4x4 vehicle twice on December 14. A case of attempted murder has been opened.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said on Wednesday that Scott-Crossley was not a suspect‚ though a warrant for his arrest was issued on December 21.
"We need him to assist with the investigation. We strongly believe that he may have the necessary information that may assist us."
Mabunda‚ a general worker at Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Hoedspruit‚ told the Sunday Times that his attacker grabbed and smashed his phone on the ground before following him in his 4x4 vehicle and running over him twice.
"I think I survived by pretending to be dead. He drove off without checking my condition and I was later discovered by a farm worker who called for help‚" he said.
Mojapelo said the case was initially believed to be a hit-and-run incident‚ but after further investigation the case of attempted murder was opened.
Scott-Crossley‚ who owns a game farm in the area‚ has not been seen by his local acquaintances recently‚ Mojapelo said. He said visits to Scott-Crossley's home have also been proven fruitless in their efforts to locate him.
Scott-Crossley was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2005 after he and two of his farm employees threw a former farm worker‚ Nelson Chisale‚ into a lion enclosure.
Scott-Crossley appealed his life sentence at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein and his murder conviction was set aside and substituted with five years’ imprisonment. The court said that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Chisale was still alive when he was fed to the lions.
Scott-Crossley was released on parole in August 2008 and returned to his Hoedspruit farm. - TMG Digital
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 
