‘Gentle’ Farmer in Wheelchair Brutally Murdered in South Africa

A KwaZulu-Natal farmer, who was left disabled by a farm attack 20 years ago, was killed in a second brutal farm attack in South Africa on Friday evening. His mother tragically found him strangled in his bedroom on Saturday morning.

The man – 46-year-old Neil McKay – has been described as a “gentle and friendly man of peace who apparently refused to carry or even have a gun”. His late father had made it possible for Neil to continue farming from a wheelchair after he was shot in the first attack, according to DA Uthukela Constituency Head, Alf Lees.

Lees said the DA is “shocked and horrified by the murder of a crippled farmer”.

Who would murder a man in a wheelchair?

“Who would murder a man in a wheelchair? A man in a wheelchair who was both unarmed and physically unable to protect himself,” said an appalled Lees. He also highlighted the fact that in two decades the attackers who crippled McKay have never been convicted.

In a statement on Sunday, Lees said:

Surely this second attack and horrendous murder will move Minister of Police, Bheki Cele to finally give as much attention to solving the thousands of unsolved murder cases as he does to arresting people minding their own business on the beach?

According to Lees, the murderer/s apparently attacked McKay in his office in the farm shed immediately after the farm manager and staff left for their homes on Friday evening. It appears the attacker/s kept watch until McKay was alone.

“First they cleaned out the safe then they apparently dragged Neil to his bedroom where they brutally strangled him to death,” revealed Lees.

The farmer’s dogs did their best to defend him and were “savagely slashed”. Lees said “judging by the blood on the scene, it seems the dogs did manage to injure those who murdered Neil McKay.”

Lees urged the South African Police to “conduct a thorough forensic investigation to collect the DNA and other evidence needed to ensure that the murderers are charged, convicted and thrown into jail for life”.

Lees added: “It is impossible to comprehend the shock and sadness that Mrs McKay must have experienced and will experience for the rest of her life. Mrs McKay has had to live through her son being twice attacked, this second time murdered by people who don’t deserve any place in our society except in a maximum-security prison.”

The DA has pledged to monitor progress in the investigation, and to demand answers as to why the first attackers have not been convicted.