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Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte in Mmabatho Northwest Superior Court.
- The NPA is still studying the Supreme Court of Appeals ruling that acquitted Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte.
- They were originally convicted of murdering 16-year-old Matlhomola Moshoeu by throwing him out of a moving bakkie.
- The Subcommittee determined that the case had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The National Tax Authority (NPA) has yet to decide whether or not to appeal the Supreme Court of Appeals (SCA) ruling that acquitted the two men found guilty of the murder of 16-year-old Matlhomola Moshoeu in Coligny, in the northwest. .
NPA spokesman Henry Mamothame said Monday he was still studying the sentence to establish why the SCA disagreed with the Northwest Superior Court ruling, which found Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte guilty of firing Mosheou. of a moving bakkie.
On Friday, the superior court acquitted Doorewaard and Schutte of a number of charges, including murder, after finding that the state had failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Despite a split in the appeal outcome, the three appellate judges agreed that the standard of proof for a criminal trial was not met, and the police had shown incompetence in the way the case was investigated.
READ | Failed investigation, 1 eyewitness, fabricated testimony: why the Coligny defendants were acquitted
The police are also studying the ruling after investigators had screwed up the case.
Meanwhile, the Judicial Service Commission confirmed to News24 that a complaint had not yet been received.
Only Judge Mahube Molemela believed, while Doorwaard and Schutte could not be found guilty of murder, Doorwaard, who was the driver of the bakkie on the day in question, should have been found guilty of wrongful death.
The judgment also indicated that the only eyewitness, Bonakele Pakisi, on whom the State’s case was based, contradicted himself and his version was riddled with inconsistencies.
Judge Nathan Ponnan even found that certain Pakisi testimony had been fabricated.
Doorewaard and Schutte said that after the deceased was caught stealing sunflowers, they arrested him and told him to climb into the back of the bakkie.
While taking Moshoeu to the police station, they said he jumped from the back of the bakkie.
ANALYSIS | Why two men were acquitted of the murder of the Coligny teenager and what it says about the legal system
They turned the bakkie around and found that he was still alive, but wounded. They then decided to go to the police station to ask for help and to make arrangements for an ambulance.
In 2018, Doorewaard and Schutte were found guilty of murdering the teenager, as Pakisi said he had seen them throw Moshoeu to the ground from the back of the bakkie.
Pakisi originally said that Schutte had thrown the bakkie teen three times, but during his evidence in court, he said it only happened once. This was one of the many material contradictions pointed out by the appellate judges.
The Northwest Superior Court also found Doorewaard and Schutte guilty of kidnapping, intimidation, robbery and pointing a firearm, in connection with the alleged attempt to silence Pakisi.
In 2019, Doorewaard was sentenced to 18 years in prison, while Schutte was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Following an appeal heard at the SCA in August, the supreme court overturned the convictions and sentences that found Doorewaard and Schutte “not guilty and released.”
