The legal aftermath of the murders on a farm in rural northern South Africa last year has now begun to unfold in court. Three men – two farm workers and the 60-year-old farm owner – are charged with the murders of Maria Makgato, 45, and Lucia Ndlovu, 34.
The two women were killed when they allegedly were looking for dairy products with expired dates that had been left for the pigs, reports BBC.
The 20-year-old farm worker, foreman on the farm and now the prosecutor's key witness, claims that it was the farm owner who shot and killed the women. He says he was forced to throw the bodies to the pigs in order to destroy evidence, according to the prosecutor and the man's lawyer.
If his testimony is accepted by the court, all charges against him will be dropped.
The three men are also charged with attempted murder after shooting at the husband of one of the women, who had followed them to the farm.
The trial has been adjourned until next week.
The case has sparked outrage in South Africa. Tensions where skin color is the decisive factor are still common in the South African countryside, despite the fact that it has been over three decades since the apartheid system fell.
