NATIONAL NEWS - A Middleton farmer accused of stealing more than 4 000 sheep in a fraudulent stock rental scheme is being investigated by Cradock police. Investigating officer Captain Jan Greyling confirmed yesterday that he was probing four separate cases of stock theft, involving a total of 4 255 head of merino sheep worth R6.3-million, against the farmer, Izak Keevy.
“In each of the cases, the accused allegedly hired the sheep from the complainants via contracts of two to five years and when it was time to give the sheep back he had sold them,” Greyling said.
He said he had been investigating stock theft in Cradock since 1986 but had never come across a case of this kind before, where a commercial farmer was accused of stealing thousands of sheep through an established farming strategy.
Keevy appeared in a Somerset East court a month-and-a-half ago on charges of stock theft.
He was not asked to plead and the case was postponed for further investigation.
