Man beaten to death over Socceroos match

Last updated 08:20 18/06/2010

A South African man who wanted to watch a World Cup football match instead of a religious programme was beaten to death by his family in the north-eastern part of the country, police said.

David Makoeya, a 61-year-old man from the small village of Makweya, in the Limpopo province, fought with his wife and two children for the remote control on Monday because he wanted to watch Australia play Germany in the World Cup.

The others, however, wanted to watch a gospel show.

"He said, 'No, I want to watch soccer'," police spokesman Mothemane Malefo said.

"That is when the argument came about.

"In that argument, they started assaulting him."

Malefo said Makoeya got up to change the channel by hand after being refused the remote control and was attacked by his 68-year-old wife, Francina, and two children, 36-year-old son, Collin, and 23-year-old daughter, Lebogang.

Malefo said he was not sure what the family used to kill Makoeya.

"It appears they banged his head against the wall," Malefo said.

"They phoned the police only after he was badly injured, but by the time the police arrived the man was already dead."

All three were arrested, but Lebogang was released on 1500 rand (NZ$231) bail, Malefo said, and the other two are still being held in custody.

Malefo said the mother and son will reappear in the local Seshego Magistrates Court on July 27.

"He was always a happy man, never violent," Makoeya's nieces, Miriam and Anna, told the Daily Sun newspaper.

"On Saturday, we saw him the last time at a funeral."

From: http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/fifa-world-cup/3826603/Man-beaten-to-death-over-Socceroos-match