Man beaten to death by family for watching world cup instead of Gospel show

Police say a South African
man who wanted to watch a World Cup match
instead of a religious program was beaten to
death by his family in the northeastern part of the
country.
David Makoeya, a 61-year-old man from the
small village of Makweya, Limpopo province,
fought with his wife and two children for the
remote control on Sunday because he wanted to
watch Germany play Australia 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 Thursday.
" 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 Sunday night, but
Lebogang was released on $200 bail Tuesday,
Malefo said. 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.
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"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."