Four convicted killers turned to the appeals court alleging that the white judge prejudiced against them because the murdered victim was also white and both are Afrikaans.
The appeals court rejected this as nonsense and ruled that Judge Callie Cillié acted quite right and that he had not slept during the case. The killers accused him of being asleep during their trial. It was also rejected by the appeal court.
Judge Cillié sentenced Khetani Nkabinde, Orapeleng Mogoje, Aubrey Dikobe and Jabulane Makhene to a lifetime imprisonment, for the murder of 55-year-old. Piet de la Rey of Potgietersrus, who was killed about 3km on a road from Petrusburg to Bloemfontein on August 8, 2008
Adv. Paul Shapiro, the legal representative of the killers, apparently argued that no white Afrikaans-speaking judge can hear a case if the accused is black. Appeal judge Ashton Schippers said such an argument was untenable.
Read the original article in Afrikaans on Die Vryburger
South Africa Today – South Africa News
