“Keyboard cowards” on social media had made life a living hell for the family of Blayne Shepard, his father told the Durban Regional Court on Thursday.
Shane Shepard, who was testifying ahead of his son’s sentencing on a charge of culpable homicide, said: “You are judged and prosecuted by social media.”
He said that he, his wife and his family had effectively served a prison term since the incident in March 2013 in which Brett Williams was beaten to death at a Super 15 rugby match at Kings Park stadium in Durban.
He said his family had been subjected to various snide comments and abuse through social media channels such as Facebook.
“We have been in prison as a family. They have already convicted you. We seldom go out.”
He said that he and his family were continually being judged on the social media channels, with people passing comments and judging the family even though they were not involved in the incident.
“It’s all hearsay. They (people on social media) get onto things they don’t know anything about. That’s why I call them keyboard cowards.”
Shepard’s son Blayne was convicted of culpable homicide in June this year for the March 2013 death of Williams.
Shepard and three others were accused of beating Williams to death outside Durban’s Kings Park Stadium on the night of March 23, 2013 after the Sharks played the Melbourne Rebels in a Super Rugby match.
In December last year, the court heard that Williams died of an “unbroken fall” due to his possibly being drunk, not from an assault.
Four people were initially accused of killing Williams. A fifth, Grant Cramer, was initially charged with assault, but turned State witness.
The case against Andries van der Merwe, Dustin van Wyk and Shepard’s older brother Kyle was discharged in December.
They had each faced a charge of murder, three of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, one of crimen injuria, and one of public violence.
Regional Court magistrate Trevor Levitt ruled “uneasily” that the evidence against the three did not reach the required standards for a prima facie case against the four.
Shane Shepard said he attended the rugby match on the night of the incident and that he and his wife had left early when it started raining, leaving behind their two sons.
“If I could, I would wind back the clock. I would have tried to encourage them to come back home with me.”
He said that his wife had received abusive phone calls and that his sons had battled to keep their jobs.
Shepard said his other son Kyle, who was acquitted, had been fired after his picture had appeared on the front of a local newspaper.
“People didn’t want to employ him, because of his name. He cannot get a job. Google shows him as being part of the Kings Park Five.”
He said that on one occasion a woman, he identified as Storm Tayla, had claimed to have a video of his son beating Williams, and that she would hand the video to police if he did not pay her R100 000.
He said that his sons and their friends had not gone to the match to kill anyone. “I know my kids. They are not killers,” he said.
He said he accepted that there were a group of people who wanted his son to be behind bars.
He described his son as being “a softy” who was religious and had not previously been in trouble with the law.
Argument in mitigation and aggravation of sentencing continues. – African News Agency