Waterkloof killers bailing out?
2008-08-10 23:21
Philip de Bruin
Pretoria - Three of the four Waterkloof killers are considering giving up their legal struggle and reporting to prison to serve out their 12-year sentences.
The deadline is Friday.
The Supreme Court of Appeal last Wednesday rejected the four killers' application to appeal.
Reinach Tiedt, Frikkie du Preez and Gert van Schalkwyk have been consulting with their legal team and lawyer Oeloff de Meyer says one of the options is for the three not ask for any extension of their bail. They will simply report to prison.
De Meyer added that the Constitutional Court still remained an option.
"But we (the legal team) told the three boys that we would not approach the Constitutional Court without a proper and legally acceptable constitutional issue.
"Advocate [Jaap] Cilliers and I identified one such possibility over the weekend, but we'll decide about it
today (Monday).
"If it's not a viable option, I'll advise the guys to report to the police to serve their sentence."
The other member of the Four, Christoff Becker, will have clarity on Monday concerning his application for the extension of his bail pending an application to appeal in the Constitutional Court.
His application will be heard on Monday morning at 09:00 before Judges W Seriti and J Ebersohn in Pretoria High Court.
These are the same judges who rejected the Four's application to appeal against their convictions and sentences and who had extended their bail pending the application in the Court of Appeal.
If the two judges decide on Monday not to extend Becker's bail pending the application to appeal, his lawyer Harry Pretorius will have to submit an urgent application to appeal the decision in the Appeal Court, or Becker will also find himself behind bars on Friday.
Becker, Du Preez, Van Schalkwyk and Tied were found guilty last year of the apparently racist murder of an unidentified man and assault of another in 2001.
- Beeld