Doctor killed, family injured in Limpopo farm attack

Barbara Emslie and her father, Dr Werner Emslie, who was shot dead during an attack on his farm in Lephalale.

On the same day that Police Minister Fikile Mbalula said farm attacks had to stop, a Lephalale doctor was shot dead on his farm.

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Dr Werner Emslie and his family were attacked on Wednesday night at about 19:00 on the farm Goedehoop in the Afguns area by at least four men, two of them armed, Netwerk reported.

Dr Werner Emslie and his wife, Dr Mariëtte Emslie, during an earlier visit to Little Brak River. She is currently in a critical condition in hospital.

Police spokesperson Brigadier John Masia said the attackers shot and killed Emslie and wounded his wife Mariëtte and daughter Barbara.

Mariëtte, who is also a medical doctor, was severely assaulted as well, and was rushed in a critical condition to a Pretoria hospital for treatment.


According to an acquaintance of the family, Barbara was also seriously wounded, but not as critically as her mother.

The attackers fled in Mariëtte's car, which was later found abandoned near the farm. From there, they had fled on foot.

Masia said no arrests had been made and the motive for the attack would be determined during the police investigation.