Johan Jacobs, 43, is still seeking justice more than two weeks after he was savagely beaten and tied to a tree by three men at a farm near Salem for allegedly "disturbing them".
Johan Jacobs, 43, is still seeking justice more than two weeks after he was savagely beaten and tied to a tree by three men at a farm near Salem for allegedly "disturbing them".
Jacobs told Grocott's Mail on Wednesday 17 December that police are not taking decisive action in handling his case.
"They take so long to arrest these people, but they live just here close to our farm, but nothing happens," he said.
Jacobs said police have told him that they know the farmer, he lives in Port Elizabeth and they know where he works. "They said they would go to PE and arrest him but that has not happened."
Jacobs said police and his lawyers were in possession of all his medical records. He said he wants everyone to know what happened to him. "I don't want this case to be concealed," he said. Meanwhile, he said that prayer kept him alive when he was tied to a tree and beaten to a pulp by three men at a farm near Salem.
Jacobs spoke about the incident for the first time this week. He said he lost his way coming back from a traditional ceremony on another nearby farm and stopped to ask for directions. He recently moved to Gordon's farm from Cape Town.
"I'm new to this area and I struggled to find my way home and that was the only house that was lit. I saw two dogs, but I decided to go and knock anyway," he said. Jacobs said he told the farmer he was trying to find Gordon's farm and the next thing he remembered was being struck with a hard object on his head. He collapsed and woke up tied to a tree.
"This guy he asked my where my two friends were and every time I tried to answer he would kick me, so I decided not to respond," he said. When his two cousins Thembalakhe and Welcome arrived and climbed off from the back of a security bakkie they saw him tied to a tree and asked the men why.
"He told them to shut up and stop asking questions," Jacobs said, adding that the beating lasted for hours. Jacobs said he was screaming for them to stop. He believed that he could be killed. His cousins' attempts to pull him away just seemed to enrage the men more, according to Jacobs.
"I just kept praying throughout the incident hoping they would stop," he said.
"At one point I heard them say 'let's kill this bastard'," he said. Jacobs said police eventually arrived and told the farmer to untie him.
"I was untied and then police put me in handcuffs and I was loaded to the back of the van." He was taken to Kenton-on-sea police station where he spent the night.
The farmer also went to Kenton police station and tried to take pictures of him at the cop shop, Jacobs said. The next morning police told him his sister was coming to fetch him. He was in terrible pain, he said.
"The more I tried to relax the pain kept increasing," Jacobs said. He was taken by ambulance to Port Alfred Hospital. "At the hospital the doctor did an X-ray, forgetting that I also had a head wound," he said.
Jacobs said he still bears the emotional and physical scars of that day. "After the incident when I switched off the lights in the evening everything was spinning and I was getting nightmares of this man beating me," he said.
Jacobs said it got so bad that he considered running away from the farm.
Seven Fountains police are investigating a case of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Attempts to contact the farmer, whose name is known to Grocott's Mail, have been unsuccessful.
