/ 27 September 2010

Court finds brothers guilty of pub murder

Two former police officers were on Monday found guilty by the Durban High Court of killing four men, apparently following an argument over the size of genitals.

“[W]e find that both accused had the direct intention to kill. But even if we are wrong in this, their acts, at the very least, were reckless as regards the loss of human life when firing at those in front of them,” Judge Guido Penzhorn told the packed court.

“In the final results we are satisfied that the two accused are both guilty of murder on counts one to four, and attempted murder on count five, they are also found guilty.”

Brian and Leon Steven shot dead Shawn Strydom, Nick Jansen van Rensburg, Rory Menzies and Bruce Edwards at the Merseyside Pub in Umbilo in Durban on September 10 2008. At the time, police said an argument began when a man made a comment about another patron’s genitals at the pub’s urinals. — Sapa