A 67-year-old Dundee farmer has been found guilty of hiring a professional assassin to murder a State witness scheduled to testify against his son. Cooks Henning showed little emotion when Dundee Magistrate Barney Visagie found him guilty of conspiracy to murder. Magistrate Visagie said the evidence confirmed that Henning hired Sasolburg hitman Gerard Opperman to assassinate a key State witness against his son, Piet Henning, who was subsequently sentenced to 50 years jail for the murder of two farm labourers in 1996. The court heard that Cooks Henning hired Opperman to murder one of his son’s accomplices, Johan Potgieter, after he turned State witness. The plot backfired when Opperman tipped off the police. Potgieter, who participated in the murders, was eventually sentenced to 10 years jail as part of a plea bargain in return for co-operating with the State. – African Eye News Service