R100 000 to save son from jail

2002-05-15 11:41

Nicolize Mulder

Pretoria - A reward of R100 000 is being offered to prove the innocence of the Pietersburg rugby players accused of Tshepo Matloha's murder.

Nick Botha, the father of Riaan Botha, confirmed the sum on Tuesday.

He said the money would be paid for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the "real murderers".

Botha and Ben Korff were both sentenced to 18 years in prison earlier this month for Matloha's murder.

Botha was given a further four years' for throwing the body in the Flag Boshielo Dam. He is to serves the sentences concurrently.

Botha sen said he was concerned about his son who had been on a hunger strike for the past two weeks and was sick for a week.

The family and Botha's fiancee, Jacky Venter, received confirmation on Tuesday that he was serving his sentence in Kutama Sinthumule, the new maximum-security prison outside Louis Trichardt.

Seeking new information

He was transferred from Baviaanspoort Prison outside Pretoria on Tuesday.

Botha sen said they had difficulty in establishing whether he had been kept at Thohoyandou or Louis Trichardt. However, he called his family on Tuesday morning.

The family hopes to visit him soon. "We are fighting about that. Then we will talk to him about his eating habits," said his father.

Botha sen believes new information undoubtedly will help his son and Korff. "They aren't murderers. I'll swear to it on the Bible," he said.

He believes the case is far deeper than politicians have made it out to be. "In this way, we might get closer to the truth."

He hopes new information will emerge before the case goes on appeal in Bloemfontein.

He claims the reward is a way of saying his son is innocent.

Judge Bernard Ngoepe, juudge-president of the Transvaal, has not yet heard Botha's and Korff's applications for appeal. Both indicated they would appeal against their convictions and sentences.

Found not guilty

Botha sen added that he could not comment on the course of events in case new information come to light.

Both Francois Velloen and Corné Kloppers were found not guilty and acquitted on the murder charge and two charges of attempted murder.

Nobody was found guilty of the attempted murder of Alex and Melford Motlokwana.

Kobus Joubert was found not guilty on charges of murder and attempted murder, but convicted of trying to obstruct the course of justice.

- Beeld