'Dog attack because worker had a panga'

The men accused of setting their trained dogs on a worker say one of the dogs attacked the employee because he was aggressive and threatened them with a panga. 

This emerged at the Groblersdal magistrate’s court yesterday where Piet Groenewald, 63, and his stepson Stephan Greef, 27, appeared for a formal bail application. The pair are accused of the attempted murder of Veneruru Kavari, 30, on January 17. Kavari said he was assaulted and accused of being drunk at work.

Last week, Kavari shared a video with Sowetan showing a man unleashing a dog on him. He had been working for the company for seven days.

In Greef's affidavit, read by their lawyer Johan van Wyk, Greef said on the day of the incident he had his trained dog with him and under control but when Kavari approached him in a threatening manner the dog attacked.

“I never touched the complainant and I never intended for the complainant to be [hurt] in the incident,” he said.

He claimed Kavari was found drunk and damaging property at a tower where he was stationed as a guard. Kavari was then convinced to get into a vehicle and taken to Greef's stepfather’s house.  

“The complainant was destructive and didn’t want to return back to the office. He was aggressive, drunk and arrogant,” claimed Greef. He said that  Kavari was armed with a panga and a pick axe handle, which he allegedly threw at them.

In his affidavit, which was also read out in court, Groenewald said he believed Kavari laid a false complaint to avoid facing a disciplinary hearing.

“I also laid a charge against the complainant for malicious damage to property, I assume that he tried to avoid prosecution by putting me behind bars,” he said. 

It also emerged in court that Groenewald has a previous conviction on two counts of murder and one of attempted murder. He committed the offences in 2002 during the execution of his duties as an SA National Defence Force soldier.

He was released on parole in 2014.

Police investigator Const Grigory Maleasenya testified that a witness, who is also employed by Groenewald,  told him that he was facing death threats and that he feared losing his job. He said the witness was afraid to give a statement or to appear before court.

Maleasenya said the witness had first received death threats from a woman who called him. “The first person who called the witness indicated that if the witness tried to give evidence in court then he would be killed.

“He [the witness] also received a call from a man speaking Sepedi. The man said if he went to court and testified against the accused, he would be killed,” Maleasenya said.

He said that two other co-workers had also threatened the witness.

But defence lawyer Van Wyk said: “I put it to you that what you are saying here is an afterthought.”

Van Wyk said his clients were not aware of the witness.

Prosecutor Faith Raselomane said the accused had indicated that should they be released on bail, they would be safe because they had trained dogs and CCTV.

Groenewald told the court that after the man was injured by his dog he cleaned his wounds and bandaged him. He said as a trained paramedic, he administered an injection and offered to take the man to the hospital but he refused. Groenewald said he also offered to take the man to hospital the following day but he never showed up.

Before proceedings got under way, Groenewald walked into a packed courtroom with a Bible in hand. There was a large media contingent in court. Last week a large group of white men with the old SA flag tried to barge into the court and clashed with the police and members of the EFF.

The family of the accused sat in the front row in the public gallery. Minister of police Bheki Cele and justice minister Ronald Lamola were also in attendance.

Cele said they decided to attend the case to give support to law enforcement officials and to also ensure that there was calm and peace in court. He also said Groblersdal had a long history of racial tensions.

Sowetan spoke to Groblersdal residents, both white and black, about racial tensions in the town, which made the news in 2022 when a black teenager was assaulted and stomped on by Corrie Pretorius who was later convicted of assault. 

A woman, who asked not to be named, said there were still racial tensions in the area. 

“White people here don’t treat us like people. It is as if us black people are forcing ourselves on them. We are trying to be humans and work together with white people but they don't want to work well with us. I say this because they don’t take us seriously, we have many cases that we have seen in this court because of them,” said the woman.

But another woman who has been living in Groblersdal for 41 years dismissed this saying, “all the people that came here with buses don’t live in Groblersdal, they are causing the racism. I live here and I know what is going on here. We have been living peacefully with everyone here.”