The Ermelo farmer accused of purposely hitting two children with his bakkie and assaulting a third was granted R30,000 bail on Tuesday by the local magistrate's court.

Monica Nyuswa, NPA spokesperson for Mpumalanga, said conditions were attached to Louis Grobler's bail. 

“He is not allowed to have contact with the witnesses or go to their residential place. The accused also has to [regularly] report to the police,” she said.

The case was postponed to August 29 for further investigation.

According to sources in the community, 41-year-old Grobler received information on July 15 that children were allegedly stealing maize from a partially harvested field.

The incident occurred when he drove to the field and had passed a clump of unharvested mielies and came across the children. Grobler has denied claims that he intentionally drove his vehicle into two of them and violently assaulted the third.

After his bail application was postponed from Friday because of outstanding medical reports, Grobler had to wait a little longer for a decision on Tuesday because of a power outage at court. However, it was quickly resolved and Grobler heard he had been granted bail.

“We are very relieved. It is just a pity it took more than a week to reach this point. For now we are thankful [Louis is free] and he and his wife are being reunited,” said Lion du Plessis, chairperson of the Ermelo Farmers' Association and vice-president of Mpumalanga Agriculture.

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