South African father, son in court after unleashing dog on Namibian

A South African businessman and his son were arrested last week and charged with assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm after allegedly unleashing a dog on their Namibian security guard.

Polokwane provincial police spokesperson colonel Malesela Ledwaba of the South African Police Service confirmed the arrests of Piet Groenewald (63) and his son Stephan (27) in a statement this week. The two appeared in the Groblersdal Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Veneruru Kavari (30) was working for Groenewald’s security company, Wildlife Investigation and Protection Services (Wips) at Kwaggafontein, Mpumalanga province.

Before the attack, Kavari’s supervisor, who visited him at the site, allegedly accused him of being intoxicated while on duty and took him to Groblersdal to discuss the matter with the manager.

“He then accused the victim of being intoxicated while on duty, and as a result, he drove with him to Groblersdal in Limpopo province to discuss the matter with the manager. Upon arrival, the two got into an argument that resulted in the manager
hitting the victim with a hard object,” Ledwaba said.

Groenewald allegedly instructed a male relative to unleash their pet dog on the victim.

“The dog bit the victim on both legs,” Ledwaba said.

Kavari reported the incident to the police and a case of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm was opened.

Groenewald and his son were traced and arrested the following day.

Kavari was recruited as security guard of Piet’s Wips performing his guard duties at a network tower battery.

In the statement, Ledwaba said the two suspects were arrested at Groblersdal on Thursday before appearing in the Groblersdal Magistrate’s Court on Friday.

He said police investigations into the matter are underway.

Speaking to The Namibian yesterday, Rino Kavari, who farms at Groblersdal, said Veneruru was attacked after he asked Groenewald when he would sign his employment contract and he allegedly punched him in the face.

This is when he was allegedly assaulted with a hard object before a dog was unleashed on him and bit him on both legs.

According to Rino, Veneruru sustained deep open wounds on his legs and was admitted in hospital were he was arrested for allegedly damaging the property at the network battery tower where he was stationed.

Rino said Veneruru was recruited in South Africa and worked for the security company for a month.

An internet search by The Namibian shows that Groenewald would recruit Namibians from the Khwe community in the Zambezi region and train them.

The Khwe people were recruited because of their “excellent tracking ability”.

The Namibian was unable to get comment from the South African Police Service on whether the suspects were granted bail yesterday.