Judgment reserved in Waterkloof appeal

The Pretoria High Court reserved judgment today on an appeal by the so-called Waterkloof Four to overturn the effective 12-year prison sentence they were given for beating a homeless man to death and assaulting another.

Christoff Becker, Frikkie du Preez, Gert Van Schalkwyk and Reinach Tiedt, whose actions were described by the Pretoria magistrate who sentenced them as cruel and that of cowards, were not in court today. But their legal counsel argued that the state had not proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Judges Willie Seriti and Piet Ebersohn said they would deliver judgment on the appeal on May 7. The four appellants were sentenced in January last year for the crimes they committed in 2001 when they were minors and still at school.

Seven years ago they assaulted an unknown man in Constantia Park, Pretoria, then kicked and punched to death a second man in a park in
Moreleta, while returning from a night club in Hatfield. - Sapa