Johannesburg - Two men who tortured and killed a British woman in a brutal farm attack have been sentenced to 37 years in prison by a Mpumalanga court as her husband is still reeling from the traumatic ordeal.
In February 2017, the brothers. Meshack Nkosinathi Yika, 28, and Themba William Yika, 38, tied up and brutally attacked Susan Howarth, 64, and Robert Lynn, 66, on their farm in Dullstroom.
The masked raiders and another man then proceeded to shoot, stab and torture the couple with a blowtorch, The Daily Mail reported this week.
Howarth, originally from Southsea, Hampshire, in the UK, died during the attack after suffering horrific injuries.
Her husband miraculously survived the ordeal, but he told the court of his trauma during the case.
His account was used in court, and the UK publication reported that in Lynn’s victim impact statement, he told the court: “I am in my own prison of fear and total sadness,' five years on from the ordeal.
The Yika brothers were originally charged along-side Lucas Makau, who has since died during the trial.
The accused were from Bergendal farm, near Belfast, and according to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in Mpumalanga, they were both sentenced on June 30 to 37 years in prison for the attack.
“The three broke into the farmhouse of Marchlands in Dullstroom, in the district of Belfast and found the couple sleeping,” NPA spokesperson Monica Nyuswa was quoted in The Daily Mail as saying.
“They attacked them with a blowtorch and shot Susan in the head, who later succumbed to injuries.”
Nyuswa described how the home invaders shot Lynn once in the neck and dragged the couple to the living room, where they proceeded to demand money from the couple.
“They continued to assault the complainant until he opened the safe and took an amount of R320, two cellphones and a camera,” the spokeswoman was quoted as saying.
“They further burnt him with a blowtorch several times on his body. He gave them his bank card and the PIN number with the hope that they would leave him.
“Instead, they covered his face with a plastic bag and forced both the deceased and the surviving victim in their van and drove away.
“They then threw them out along the road. The matter was reported to the police, and the investigations led to their arrest,” Nyuswa said.
During the trial, prosecutor Advocate Eric Sihlangu shared Lynn's account of what happened during the terrifying 2am home invasion, which saw the three men enter through a window and tie the couple up.
The Daily Mail added that Lynn was stabbed once in the shoulder, taken from his home and forced to kneel in scrubland. He was then shot in the neck.
The retiree managed to survive the brutal attack and free himself, but he found his badly injured wife nearby after being left for dead.
Police said, at the time, that she was unrecognisable due to her injuries and was in a coma. Her husband raised the alarm, and she was rushed to hospital but died 48 hours later.
In addition, it was reported that she had multiple fractures to her skull, gunshot wounds and horrific burns from the blowtorch to her breasts.
Judge Lineo Liphoto at Mpumalanga High Court found the brothers guilty of six offences.
These included murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, housebreaking, robbery and possession of an unlicensed firearm - for a total of more than 50 years.
However, the court ordered that some of their sentences would run concurrently, meaning they would each serve a maximum of 37 years in prison.
In a victim impact statement read out in court, Lynn said before sentencing that he “will never have peace again’ after the attack.
“Due to the trauma of the incident, I had to pack up my whole life and leave the country because I no longer felt safe,” his letter said, according to Maroela Media.
“I will never have peace again. Our friends and family are just as traumatised as I am. I am in my own prison of fear and absolute sadness because of the acts of violence against me and Sue.”
He added that ahead of the sentencing that he hoped those responsible would be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“They have proven that they are professional criminals. I, myself, will be in prison for the rest of my life without a chance of parole.”
Howarth moved to Dullstroom in 1996, and started the Dullstroom Stables before the farm Marchlands - where she was attacked - became her home.
After her funeral, her ashes were flown to Southsea in England where she would be buried with her parents. She was an only child.
The attack sparked anger in South Africa, which has a high rate of violent crime, with attacks on farmers in relatively isolated areas fuelling anger in the community.