The organisation AfriForum has welcomed the decision to grant convicted Coligny killers, Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte, leave to appeal directly to the Court of Appeals in Bloemfontein.
It said on Thursday that the pair can now appeal their conviction by the High Court in Mmabatho of the murder of the teenager Matlhomola Moshoeu.
This, after Doorewaard and Schutte’s legal team, led by Advocate Barry Roux, successfully petitioned the Court of Appeals after the High Court in Mmabatho refused them leave to appeal.
AfriForum said it had decided to fund the men’s appeal application after Bonakele Pakisi, the only eyewitness in the murder case, confessed to four different people that he had lied to the court.
He testified that he saw the two murdering the teenager by pushing him off the back of a moving vehicle after he allegedly stole sunflowers from their employer.
According to Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, his organisation is grateful that the two men will now have the opportunity to prove that the High Court in Mmabatho erred by ignoring key evidence of their innocence and relying on the story of a “liar” as the only eyewitness.
He said it was important to hold people accountable who spread lies to create racial tension and a false cloud of “racism” around innocent people.
Doorewaard and Schutte were sentenced to 18 and 23-years in prison respectively for Moshoeu’s murder.
