Case dropped against wine farm manager

18 December 2014 - 18:42 By ROXANNE HENDERSON AND FARREN COLLINS
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
A NEW MAN: Amputee Flippie Engelbrecht, 19, with the hands carpenter Richard van As crafted for him.
A NEW MAN: Amputee Flippie Engelbrecht, 19, with the hands carpenter Richard van As crafted for him.
Image: ESA ALEXANDER

The Flippie Engelbrecht case, which alleged that the owner of a wine farm and his manager had brutally beaten the double amputee in 2008, was dismissed today.

Magistrate Ken Peters threw the case out of court due to poor testimony by the state’s witnesses and found the accused, Wilhelm Treurnicht, not guilty on a count of assault at the Worcester Regional Court.

Defence attorney Pieter Botha argued in court on Wednesday that the state’s case crumbled due to inconsistent evidence given by members of the Engelbrecht family and that his client had nothing to answer for.

Flip and Katriena Engelbrecht alleged that Treurnicht and farm owner Johnny Burger assaulted their teenage son at a Robertson wine farm and that Flippie required surgery following to the attack. This left him blind and it was alleged that he started suffering from epilepsy.

In 2012, it was alleged, he had a seizure and fell into a fire. His arms were amputated.

Burger committed suicide in September last year.

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now