Killer of farmer gets 20 years
Publish date: 25 January 2007
Issue Number: 1751
Diary: Legalbrief Today
Category: In Court
A man who shot an Estcourt farmer, whom he had known, in the head, chest and abdomen was yesterday sentenced at the Pietermaritzburg High Court to 20 years imprisonment, says a report in The Witness.
In sentencing William Mbatha (49), acting Judge Raj Badal said that Mbatha had not come clean with the court and disclosed the reason for the killing. Instead, Mbatha maintained that he shot Rudolph Christian van Zuydam (49) on August 13, 2004 in self-defence, a version Badal rejected as false. Full report in The Witness http://www.witness.co.za/default.asp?myAction=detail&myRef=49854&myCat=news
