Waterkloof-four wrongfully imprisoned…
N.B. If you are interested in the original court documents, please leave a comment so that I can get your email address.
NEW: The victim may have received medical attention (click here!)
For some time now I have been trying to get to the bottom of a politically charged and highly publicised case that was “concluded” towards the end of 2008. This case was followed by just about everybody and the unity among the sheeple was epic.
The case that I am referring to is none other than the infamous Waterkloof-Four sensation. The case has become a bit of a go-to reference for the decay of our youth, but the fact is that this story has never been told accurately and it is definitely far from over. The blatant abuse of justice and the now apparent corruption must be exposed for all to see. I have followed this case from inception and I have probably read every piece of print as well as every shred of official court document relating to this case and the funny thing is that they are almost irreconcilable.
There is no doubt that everybody has an opinion about this case and although we probably can expect some fanatical responses and the typical self-justifications, I believe that you would do yourself a great disservice if you do not at least read the summary of the facts that I allude to. It would not be realistic to discuss all the blatant errors made by Magistrate Len Kotze, but the full analysis of his judgement can be found here. The original court documents are available to anybody would like to read them and I defy anybody to prove me wrong. Up to this moment not even the judges involved has managed this.
The truth is that this case was an awe-inspiring victory for the media. The media blinded an entire nation whilst the judges delivered one the most shocking judgements of their careers. How many facts did you really read about? We know exactly what they wore at any time and there were references to their perfume, hairdos and white shoes. We know they were “arrogant” even though they never said a thing. Yet we do not know what really transpired that fateful night. If you think about it: what we “know” is nothing more than implied images, skilfully created by sensation-hungry reporters knowledgeable of the fact that truth does not sell. One thing is undeniable: the media managed to unite a nation, across more denominations than I care to list, in the condemnation of four youngsters we knew nothing about.
In summary, they were convicted of two counts of assault and one of premeditated murder. They did admit to assaulting an unknown man in a park in Moreletta Park, but they vehemently denied the first assault as well as the murder. In my report I show that the first assault probably never happened on the night in question and to be truthful the State prosecutor admits that much at the end of his examination of this incident. If indeed it did take place it happened on another night and could not, in all likelihood, have included the same group of people. It might surprise you to realise that there were at least ten people involved that night, but this specific grouping of people is unique in time. Even the “W4 gang” was a unique grouping that night.
Once the first assault is knocked out then this entire case becomes suspicious to say the least. Without the first assault the “murder” would have to be downgraded to an opportunistic version of manslaughter and that would have meant that the State could not make an example of these individuals. I do realise that we love to hate people that seem to be better off than ourselves, but you have to keep the consequences of a corrupt judiciary in mind when looking at the facts. Thanks to Hlophe and Zuma we are already starting to see the effects loud and clear.
The individuals did assault the victim and it is entirely conceivable that a person could die from such an assault, but to prove that we have to scrutinise the physical evidence very carefully. The body used as the “murder victim” was in pristine condition barring a gaping wound on the back of his leg. The post mortem report of the victim indicated no other serious wounds other than the gaping hole in the back of his leg. Cause of death was blood loss over an extended time. No bruising, no broken bones, no blood from the nose or ears, no broken skin, no dirt or grass indicative of a struggle on his face or body, no broken teeth and the tiniest amount of blood on the scene.
Two specialists indicated that a person of similar build as the victim would have to lose 5-6 pints of blood to bleed to death. More than 3 litres of blood is a lot of blood to mysteriously disappear. The direction of blood flow on the victim’s body as shown in some of the crime scene photos also seem to indicate that the body may have been moved after death. This is significant because the State witnesses testified that the position that the police found the body in, is exactly the same as it was left the previous night after the assault. If we consider that someone did move the victim to the park after his death, it could explain the absence of blood at the apparent crime scene but then raises more questions for this case. All this is handled extensively in my report. This is merely one indication that the learned magistrate did not remove all possibilities in his findings and as such could not have proven guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
The conundrum is that the sentence was based on the intentional and brutal murder of a homeless individual, but there is absolutely no indication of either of the chosen pillars of this sentence. As for the “homeless” individual, you should know that this supposedly derelict individual was dressed in good quality clothing with expensive athletic shoes. He had a wallet on him with money in it. He was in generally good condition prior to his death. The police also found stolen objects around him that were positively linked to a house robbery a significant distance away from the park where he was found. One of the medical experts in the case did testify that the wound on the victim looked more like a wound made by falling on a palisade fence and the property where the items next to him were stolen did have just such a fence. This is a clear example of how the media manipulated people’s emotions to steer attention away from the travesty taking place under our noses.
So what does this mean then? There are many unanswered questions about the events of that night, but if we are to assume a fair and independent judiciary then the four young men implicated could not have been convicted of any of the charges brought against them. However, the true mystery is how this case traversed four levels of court and why these learned judges refuse to answer my questions? The only judge to respond was Judge President Bernard Ngoepe who condescendingly claimed that it is irrelevant if judges are wrong (see fax). No legal professional wants to touch this case and so far academics are too scared to open Pandora’s Box. Do we really know what goes on in the halls of our respected, honourable and trusted judiciary?
Should you be interested, I can provide all documentation on a disc if you leave a comment to that nature. This would include all documentation entered into court, judgements, photos and correspondence with the JSC and various other organisations that chose to ignore this corruption.
The Waterkloof four victim may have received medical attention
The hostage drama at government corral
On Thursday 15 December, 2011 two of the so-called Waterkloof 4, Reinach Tiedt and Gert van Schalkwyk, had their sentences converted to corrective supervision under certain strict conditions. Without being an expert in the laws governing correctional services, I understand that the process is basically that prisoners who qualify for parole will tender an application to the parole board who will then evaluate said application and afford the applicants a hearing if it seems justified. There are a number of documents required before such an application can even be considered. These include but are not necessarily limited to testimonials, progress reports from prison officials, psychiatric evaluations, clearance certificates from the police and various other little trinkets.
Basically the application for parole is absolutely no surprise for anybody in this apparently efficient system that we know as the Department of Correctional Services (DCS). In fact, after the parole board studied the documentation and interviewed the applicants they formally recommend that a court hears the application in order to convert the sentence if it is deemed reasonable. This is a very long chain of individuals and groups who’s approval is required in order for this matter to even appear before a Magistrate or Judge. Normally the Magistrate (or Judge) that convicted them in the first place is required to perform the hearing again, but unfortunately this person is retired and not available. The hearing also requires a representative of the state to be present to oppose if need be and given that DCS transported the applicants to court they were well aware of the dates if they felt the need to say something when the opportunity presented itself.
To add insult to injury I am lead to believe that DCS signed the release forms of the applicants after the Magistrate’s court ordered their release and these documents are in the possession of the necessary authorities. After the initial backtracking of DCS an urgent application for their release was lodged at the High court and it was upheld with cost and contempt charges brought against certain key individuals. In spite of this DCS refused the legal team of the applicants as well as representatives of the South African police entry to the prison and they also refused to meet with these people.
The DCS did attempt a rather less than convincing argument about there being problems with the court order that they, by the way, completely supported until it was effected and they then proceeded to claim that it was under investigation by their legal experts (tsk, tsk…). This still did not give them the right to disregard a court order and if they somehow managed to conjure up a semblance of a valid argument nothing would stop them from presenting that in court and rearresting the released individuals thus making their point without disrespecting the law.
Bottom line – Reinach Tiedt and Gert van Schalkwyk are now hostages of our ever-so intelligent government and the proverbial politician is about to hit the fan.
The irony of this situation is that it all happened in plain view of our self-righteous media and yet in none of the reports that I have read is any part of this fiasco questioned thoroughly. Representatives of various papers were in court and apparently followed the family members around the Pretoria area to no end. Yet all they reported on was the superficial facts and emotional content. This then from the same group that feels so persecuted by our government when all they really want is to simply report the truth to the nation. They have no morals and I can not understand how they can expect the public to support them against the secrecy bill of the government. In my opinion they have been pandering to an ignorant government for quite some time and this case is no exception.
One thing was certain: the articles came through thick and fast after each event and in there lies the conundrum I suppose. How could they have done any proper research regarding the mechanics of this fiasco. Why is the fact that a Mother wants to celebrate the return of her son important to us but the suspicious about turn of the DCS is of little or no consequence. Why is it necessary to report on the size of the policeman that accompanied the legal team to Zonderwater prison and yet very little is said about the fact that a government department deliberately disregarded two court orders. Why is this not investigated in full.
My impression was that most of the media basically dropped the story after the DA said that the conversion of their sentence was unlawful. Nobody thought to double check the opinion of the DA, possibly because that information is basically irrelevant to the goal of the media. They seemingly only seek to stir up enough emotion to sell more copies and possibly advertising space. Why would that be? What possible authority does the DA have in this matter? According to the laws governing correctional services these individuals were well within their right to apply for the conversion and if the parole board disagreed, they would never have seen the inside of a courtroom. Why then would the DA venture such an ill-conceived opinion about this matter in any case and why does the media not question this in a proper fashion? What are they afraid of? This just seems like politicking at its best.
In conclusion I believe that we have not seen the end of this and next week will put the resolve of our diseased little democracy to a serious test. But before then we still have the brilliant opinion of the Sunday tabloid to look forward too. Would you like to bet on the quality of journalism in that story?
P.S. The Afrikaans Sunday paper, Rapport, did not disappoint. This story is something that is directly related to the foundations of our democracy and whether your concern is the early release of prisoners or the fact that a government department knowingly disregarded two court orders, there are issues of greater concern to the public than the love interest of one individual. I find it shocking that a newspaper would focus on something that really could not even be described as a relationship when the undermining of the judiciary is happening in plain view. Judging from the comments in that story, the readers of this paper are quite content with gossip and maybe we just would not know what we have until we lose it.
The Waterkloof four victim may have received medical attention
ALSO: Waterkloof 4 wrongfully imprisoned (Click here)
I recently came into possession of a rather interesting document regarding the Waterkloof four case. Because of all the personal opinions and possible ulterior motives of certain people involved, I decided to focus purely on the court proceedings and the facts and arguments entered into the record when I initially investigated this travesty. As detailed in my report the court records were more than enough to show that there is no legal or intellectual way to convict the four youngsters of any of the charges brought against them.
However, if you care to delve into the story that transpired before the court drama the ridiculous nature of this case quickly becomes apparent. Even though the defence team were convinced that the State had the wrong body, nothing worth mentioning was ever done to actually investigate the matter. When the NPA was given the instruction to prosecute based on the stories told by the von Lansberg brothers, a search was done for a body in the area and time frame of the attack. When a body was found, all investigations stopped and the case was brought to court even though the injuries on the body did not match the description of the assault. Nobody cared to check hospital admissions or if they did it was not deemed helpful in destroying the four youngsters involved.
The closest state hospital to where the incident took place was Mamelodi Hospital and would have been well within reach of the park. The document in this article is a copy of the admission sheet for the morning after the assault took place and shows at least three possible candidates. One person in particular stood out and on further investigation it seems as if the person gave the wrong address. The individual currently living at the specified address claims to have done so for a long time and apparently does not know the name at all. The name of the person in question is Peter Maseko and if anybody knows a person by that name that was assaulted during the end of November or early in December 2001, I would really like to speak to him regarding his injuries.
Mamelodi Hospital admission sheet
This might be nothing and there are other avenues that we are looking at, but the point is that the court did not remove all other reasonable possibilities and somehow the seemingly obvious areas were not investigated properly. Why would this be? People keep telling me (off the record of course) that this is a very sensitive case without offering any qualification for such a statement. Could it be sensitive because, once again, it was a monumental screw-up from the investigation right through to the trial and sentencing. That is becoming such a cliché that it is almost understandable that the people of South Africa can not see the problem with this case.
Maybe there is some truth in a few of the conspiracy theories floating around about this case and the conviction really was massaged into place for what ever reason. Well, massage might be too soft a word given that the logic, or more accurately the lack thereof, demonstrated by Magistrate Kotze was quite brutal and thoroughly suspect at times. The judgement by Seriti and Ebersohn in support of Kotze was nothing short of criminally stupid and I still can not believe that a legal professional can get away with such nonsense.
Anyway, the fact remains that the courts and/or investigators did not remove all reasonable possibilities and they definitively ignored serious contradicting evidence. So, if the unfortunate individual that was beaten up on that fateful night did not die from some other unrelated cause, he is still out there and we are looking for him…
