Dagga couple's lawyer: 'It was not a farm attack. Jules was not shot because he was white'

Paul-Michael Keichel, friend and longstanding lawyer for the Dagga Couple, Julian Stobbs and Myrtle Clarke, has issued a statement clarifying the circumstances in which Stobbs was murdered at his Lanseria home last week.

Keichel posted a message on YouTube addressed to justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola. He said reports that the murder was a farm attack and that robbers returned to the scene were inaccurate.

He said information that was distributed was false, saying the only "small nugget of truth" was that Stobbs lived on a smallholding.

"I knew Jules well enough to know he would have wanted me to set the record straight. I've had this sense confirmed by Myrtle, who I visited in all her grief yesterday."

He said the murder had nothing to do with race.

"Mr Lamola, Jules was not murdered because he was white, nor because he farmed. He died because unmitigated levels of hopelessness and desperation in this country rendered the picking up of a gun and robbing exposed people a more viable option than seeking respectable employment, because the latter opportunity does not exist for so many in this country."

Afriforum's Ian Cameron posted a notice on Twitter on the day Stobbs was killed. He later defended his information.

"So apart from suspects returning, as said by police and security on the scene yesterday, including our own network, I didn’t miscommunicate anything."