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Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte.
- Sixteen-year-old Moshoeu died on April 20, 2017 in Coligny, in the northwest.
- Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte were originally convicted of murdering Moshoeu by throwing him out of a moving bakkie.
- The Supreme Court of Appeals (SCA) determined that Doorewaard and Schutte were not guilty and overturned their convictions and sentences.
The Supreme Court of Appeals (SCA) acquitted the two men who were previously found guilty of murdering 16-year-old Moshoeu, who died on April 20, 2017 in Coligny, in the northwest.
In 2017, the State alleged that Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte had killed the teenager after catching him stealing sunflower heads from a farm.
It was successfully argued that Moshoeu was thrown from a moving bakkie.
READ | Coligny murder: Men sentenced to 23 and 18 years in prison
His death was greeted with anger at Coligny, and racism was said by many to be the determining factor in men’s actions. Protests broke out in the small town.
In November 2018, Northwest Superior Court Doorewaard and Schutte were guilty of murder, kidnapping, intimidation, robbery, and pointing a firearm.
Judge Ronnie Hendricks, at the time, said the murder was neither planned nor premeditated. He found that the incident occurred as a result of dolus eventualis, News24 previously reported.
Hendricks also said he was satisfied with the evidence conducted by the sole witness in the matter, saying that Bonakele Pakisi was honest, truthful and reliable.
Hendricks said there was no practical reason why Pakisi would have made up the evidence because he remembered “each and every scene” and could describe what had happened in various scenes.
Later, the Rapport newspaper reported that Pakisi admitted that he lied in court, even claiming that he was not at the scene when the incident occurred.
READ | ‘It’s too late to apologize’ – mother of Coligny’s murdered teenager
Less than a year later, in 2019, Doorewaard was sentenced to 18 years in prison, while Schutte was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Doorewaard was sentenced to;
- 15 years in prison for murder;
- 3 years for kidnapping;
- 2 years for bullying;
- 2 years for pointing a firearm and
- 1 year behind bars for theft.
Schutte was sentenced to;
- 20 years in prison for murder;
- 3 year kidnapping;
- 2 years for bullying;
- 2 years for pointing a firearm and
- 1 year for theft.
Some of the sentences ran at the same time.
Throughout the trial, Doorewaard and Schutte maintained their innocence, and their defense was that Moshoeu had jumped off the bakkie while on their way to the police station.
The men were granted bail in November 2019 after appealing their convictions and sentences.
READ | Coligny’s killers posted bail of 20,000 rand each prior to SCA’s appeal
News24 at the time reported that the couple’s legal team, led by attorney Barry Roux SC, received permission to appeal their conviction directly to SC in Bloemfontein.
Roux’s legal bill was being funded by lobbyist AfriForum.
At the time, AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said:
“We know that men are innocent and that they do not deserve to be in jail for another day. They have been detained for 13 months and it is 13 more months.”
In summary sentencing on Friday, the superior court overturned the convictions and sentences that found Doorewaard and Schutte “not guilty and released.”
As a result, Doorewaard and Schutte are now free men.
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