/ 3 June 2008

Couple convicted of hiding Boeremag members

A Limpopo couple has been convicted of hiding two suspected Boeremag members on their farm, Beeld reported on Tuesday.

Jaco Bogaards and his wife, Bess, were charged in the Mokopane High Court after allowing Herman Van Rooyen and Rudi Gouws to hide on their farm, Waterbessiefontein, about 17km outside Modimolle, from May 2006 until January last year.

Bogaards was optimistic after sentence was handed down on Monday, Beeld reported.

”We are very relieved because the trial is over, and we believe we have a chance with the appeal we are going to lodge.”

The two suspected members of the right-wing Boeremag movement escaped from the Pretoria High Court in May 2006.

They were recaptured in Centurion shortly after the couple was arrested on charges under the Terrorism Act.

Bogaards would have to serve a prison term of three years, while his wife was given a jail sentence of two years, suspended for five years, if their appeal fails. — Sapa