PRETORIA High Court Judge President Bernard Ngoepe on Thursday
said he would give five Pietersburg rugby players the benefit of
the doubt on two attempted murder charges.
He also found that the State had not proved a case of malicious
damage to property, which relates to the shooting of five dogs,
against accused Riaan Botha or, for that matter, against anyone
else.
Ngoepe has not announced his final verdict yet, and adjourned
the court early on Thursday morning because he said he did not feel
well.
He said he intended completing his judgment on Friday.
He has not made any pronouncements yet on the charges of murder
and defeating the ends of justice.
Botha, Kobus Joubert, Ben Korff, Francois Velloen and Corne
Kloppers –at that stage members of the Noordelikes rugby club —
are charged with the murder of 19-year-old Tshepo Matloha on
Botha’s mother’s game farm on March 25 last year.
The complainants in the attempted murder charges are Matloha’s
friends, Alex and Melford Motlokwana, who were poaching with him on
the farm that day.
Earlier in the trial all the accused, except Botha, were found
not guilty on the charge of malicious damage to property.
Korff, Velloen and Kloppers were also found not guilty on the
count of defeating the ends of justice, which pertains to the
throwing of Matloha’s body into the then Arabie dam (now known as
the Flag Boshielo dam). – Sapa