Farmer fed black worker to the lions.

A WHITE farmer was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for killing one of his black workers by throwing him into a lion enclosure in a case that shocked South Africa, which is still grappling with its apartheid past.

Mark Scott-Crossley, 37, and one of his employees were convicted of attacking Nelson Chisale with machetes, beating him, tying him up and throwing him over the fence at a lion reserve, where he was devoured.

Scott-Crossley's employee and co-defendant, Simon Mathebula, was sentenced to 15 years because the judge found he was coerced by his employer. The pair were convicted in April.

Chisale, 41, had been fired two months earlier for apparently running a personal errand during working hours. When he returned to collect some belongings, the two men attacked him.

Spectators in the courtroom in the northern town of Phalaborwa whistled and cheered as Scott-Crossley was led out of the courtroom after the sentencing.

Witnesses testified that Scott-Crossley had a history of aggression and violence and the judge said he forced Mathebula to participate.

South Africa's Human Rights Commission said in a 2003 report that attacks on farm workers were common. Most are black or mixed race and their bosses are white

CAPTION(S):

Mark Scott-Crossley