Boeremag case: Woman wins appeal

2010-02-12 10:08

Johannesburg - A woman who was convicted for helping two alleged Boeremag members won her appeal against her conviction, Beeld newspaper reported on Friday.

Bess Bogaards, with her husband Jaco, was found guilty of hiding two suspected Boeremag members on their farm in Modimolle (previously Nylstroom).

She was sentenced to two years in prison, which was suspended for five years.

The sentence was repealed in the High Court in Pretoria on Thursday as the court found the state failed to prove her guilt without any reasonable doubt.

The newspaper said the state could not prove that Bogaards knew her husband allowed Herman van Rooyen and Rudi Gouws to hide in a riverbed on their farm from May 2006 to January 2007. The two men were hiding after escaping from custody during their trial in the High Court

The Bogaards were found guilty in June 2008 in the Modimolle District Court on two charges under the law on terrorism.

Her husband's guilt and sentence was confirmed by the High Court on Thursday, but he was given leave to appeal.

- SAPA