Farmer shoots dead farm invader

Farmer shoots dead farm invader

ZIMBABWE has witnessed attacks on white commercial farmers since President Mugabe embarked on his land reforms

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By Peta Thornycroft

A WHITE farmer has allegedly shot dead one of President Robert Mugabe's supporters during an attack on his property.

Spiro Landos, 48, a farmer of Greek descent who grew vegetables for British supermarkets, was seriously wounded before being detained by police in hospital in Mutare, 160 miles south east of Harare.

During the attack he was pinned down by a 30-strong mob. He apparently drew a gun and fired a warning shot in the air. But one man was hit and died.

Mr Landos is recovering from surgery and is unable to walk.

His relatives fear he will be charged with murdering one of Mr Mugabe's "war veterans" who fought for independence from Britain in 1980.

They said they were anxious about his prospects for a fair trial in a highly-charged racial and political environment following Mr Mugabe's anti-white rhetoric during an interview with Sky News this week. Friends said Mr Landos had been asking police to disperse a mob of ruling Zanu PF supporters from his land for a week before the attack on the farm, Riverside, in the Odzi district. When he failed to return to his homestead after dark on Monday a friend found him near the farm gate, semi-conscious and bleeding from head wounds.

The incident was the first in which any farmer has fired a weapon since Mr Mugabe ordered the land grab of more than 20 million acres in 2000.

Up to 3,000 farmers have been attacked or hounded from their homes. It has been a violent few days for many of the country's remaining white farmers.

John Worsley-Worswick, a spokesman for the pressure group Justice for Agriculture, said: "The latest onslaught has been sudden after a relatively quiet couple of months. In all cases the attackers have had a common message that whites must leave and go to Britain."

A white manager of a wildlife sanctuary, Anthony Bodington, 35, was abducted and tortured in southern Zimbabwe and is recovering in a private hospital.
Daily Telegraph, UK
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