A Free State farmer who forced a couple to exhume their baby’s remains has started his prison sentence, Free State police said on Wednesday.
Fanie Hyman of Koppies was sentenced in the Koppies Magistrate’s Court on Monday and was taken to Kroonstad prison on the same day, police spokesperson Sergeant Pumzile Makaula said.
Media reports said Hyman was sentenced to two years in jail.
Hyman forced Maria Mnisi and her husband, Phineas Johnson, to dig up the remains of their two-week-old baby after the farmer had an argument with Johnson.
Johnson resigned and Hyman told him to take his baby’s remains with him, then forced him and his wife to dig up the coffin.
He then took them to Pretoria, forcing them to sit in the rain on the back of the bakkie with the coffin, wrapped in a black refuse bag.
Hyman, who has indicated that he would appeal the sentence, was found guilty on a charge of violating a grave. — Sapa