Kimberley - Gloudina “Koekie” Botha, 67, who was convicted of killing her husband Pieter Nicolaas Botha, on their farm Kareehoek near Britstown has been granted leave to appeal her conviction and sentence in the Supreme Court of Appeal.
The deceased, who was a goat farmer, was found dead in his bed with two gunshots to the head in July 2010.
His body was exhumed in order to conduct a forensic autopsy, as it was initially believed that he had committed suicide.
Botha, who is currently out on bail, was sentenced on March 17 to 12 years’ imprisonment.
During judgment, the Northern Cape High Court had dismissed the defence’s claim that Botha and her son were emotionally and physically abused by her husband and believed that it amounted to character assassination.
The court came to the conclusion that the accused was driven by greed to take over the business that her husband ran “with an iron fist”.
In her application to appeal, Botha pointed out that she was not afforded a fair trial and that the court had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that she had fired the fatal shots.
She said she was subjected to extreme physical and emotional violence at the hands of the deceased for more than 30 years and stated that the prescribed sentence was “inappropriate and shocking”.
Northern Cape High Court Judge Mmathebe Phatshoane, in her judgment on appeal, pointed out that the key issue of the trial was to determine if the deceased was murdered or if he had committed suicide.
“This matter raises family disputes and dynamics as the evidence demonstrated.”
She approved the State’s evidence as being consistent and credible, despite minor differences in the testimonies of some of the State witnesses.
“The State’s case was largely based on circumstantial evidence. Having assessed the evidence, I was satisfied that Botha was complicit in the murder of the deceased.”
Phatshoane stated that, due to the inferential nature of reasoning involved in the evaluation of evidence, she acknowledged that the appellate court could arrive at a different conclusion.
She added that defence’s evidence of the expert opinion of the forensic psychiatrist Dr Larissa Panierri-Peter was based on “the poor quality of evidence”.
“Therefore her opinion evidence could not count in Botha’s favour.”
She indicated that she had refrained from imposing a life sentence mainly due to the advanced age of the accused.
“I rejected the evidence on the character assassination and led by witnesses who had an axe to grind with him. However, if the Appeal Court finds that Botha’s alleged history of emotional abuse at the hands of the deceased ought to have factored in the determination of an appropriate sentence, it may perhaps upset the sentence imposed.”
Phatshoane said that due to the lengthy nature of the trial as well as the intricate issues that emerged during the trial, some of the discernible facts of the case could be reviewed by the Supreme Court of Appeal.
She extended Botha’s bail, pending the outcome of the Supreme Court of Appeal application.
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