Rugby players get 18 years for murder
2002-05-02 11:27
Pretoria - Two Pietersburg rugby players were sentenced in a packed Pretoria High Court on Thursday to 18 years in jail for the "vicious" and "cowardly" murder of a young black man, Tshepo Matloha.
Judge Bernard Ngoepe recommended that Riaan Botha and Ben Korff
serve at least two-thirds of their sentences before being
considered for parole.
Judge Ngoepe said the state could not prove that the attack was racist but lambasted the rugby players for the attack on a defenceless man.
"It was a cowardly act. That the two assaulted him viciously is obvious. The assault was callous," Ngoepe said.
Botha, along with another rugby team mate Kobus Joubert, also
received a four-year sentence for attempting to defeat the ends of
justice by throwing Matloha's body into a dam.
Botha's two sentences are to run concurrently.
Joubert's sentence could be altered to correctional supervision
after serving an unspecified minimum period in jail.
Riaan Botha and Ben Korff were convincted earlier this month of the murder of 19-year-old Tshepo Matloha in March last year when they caught him hunting on Botha's family game farm. - Sapa/Reuters