JULIA Mashele and her co-accused Johannes Makhanye were acquited and discharged on 32 counts ranking from theft to kidnapping and murder in the Pretoria regional court on Friday morning. Mashele and Makhanye, who were alleged to have been involved in organised crime in the Soshanguve area north of Pretoria, hugged each other as the public gallery clapped and shouted ‘yes’ when the magistrate delivered his verdict. An emotional Mashele refused the speak to the media after the hearing. The acquital comes after an unappossed application by the defence for the charges to be dropped on grounds that the state does not have sufficient prima facie evidence to convict the accussed.