Pretoria - The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria has found that Leon Lourens Coetzee acted in self-defence and cleared him for the murder of Thembinkosi Thabethe.
Coetzee was on trial for stabbing and killing Thabethe, his neighbour at the Green Acres Estate over a WhatsApp message in which it was alleged that Coetzee's wife had referred to black people as "varke" (pigs).
The altercation in which Thabethe was stabbed three times took place on April 26 2021, and he succumbed to his injuries in hospital on May 1.
In delivering his judgement, acting judge Kobus Burger remarked on the origin of the matter and the WhatsApp message that led to the fatal altercation.
"A faceless and unscrupulous person took a screen shot of a text message and seemingly without basis deliberately sent the message to the deceased with an added message that the accused's wife wrote the message that referred to black people in general as pigs. This action could only have been taken with the intention to create racial tension and hate."
"I do not have words to describe my disapproval and disgust with what that person did. This action resulted in a tragic event which left many victims. I can only imagine what devastation the incident caused to the family of the deceased as it is often said a parent should never be in a position to bury his or her child," Burger commented.
He further remarked that Coetzee had been publicly humiliated by his arrest, denied bail for two months subsequent to his arrest and had to incur huge financial expenses to secure competent legal representatives for his trial.
Lastly, he said Coetzee would have to live with the idea that he was the cause of the death of another human being.
"I find that the accused acted in private defence when he inflicted the wounds to the body of the deceased. His actions were therefore not unlawful and for the charge of murder the accused is found not guilty of this charge."
Speaking outside court the tear-filled widow of Thabethe, Azola Thabethe, said the family were not surprised by the judge's verdict and had tried their best to prepare themselves.
"We expected it as we could tell how the proceedings were going. We could tell that the justice system was not on our side and it's sad that today we still live in a country whereby the justice system is clearly not for black people."
"It's unfortunate, but we'll gather strength from God as he has carried us up to this point. He will carry us and he will be our judge in this case," she added with tears streaming down her face.
Thabethe said she had been attending the court case from the first day and many of them could tell from how the proceedings were going that the judge was simply not on the family's side.
"We anticipated this when he acquitted the guy of premeditated murder and closed the state's case even before all the witnesses were called. He also chose to disregard all the witnesses by the doctors that determined what happened and the extent of the injuries."
"It has finally come to this and it is what it is but we will pursue it and hope that the South African law and justice system will fight for us one day somehow."
Thabethe's elder brother Dan Nkosi said they felt as though the judge was assisting the defence with many aspects of their case and even going to the extent of bullying the state prosecutor and constantly dismissing what he had to say.
"We have accepted that the life of a black person is not important. I want the NPA to decide what they are going to do and take it up for appeal, as the judge was so biased in every respect. That man clearly overstepped the boundaries for a self-defence plea," he added.
Pretoria News