Durban - Tracy Pillay put on a brave face for the media, moments after she learnt that the man accused of her son’s murder in 2014, was acquitted on all charges and was free to go home.
Speaking to the Daily News after Judge Liz Law read out her judgment in the Kurtlee Pillay murder trial for which Blaine Raman was the main accused, Pillay said they had been hoping for a conviction.
“This is not the outcome that we wanted but God knows best. It has been very difficult for our family especially when everybody knows the truth. I think everybody concerned in this case, including the investigating officer and prosecutor, did their best to get the conviction they could with what they had. I am satisfied that they have done all that they could,” she said.
On Tuesday, Law ruled that the state’s case failed to find Raman guilty beyond reasonable doubt. Raman was acquitted on charges of kidnap, robbery with aggravating circumstances and murder. Dinesh Nana was given a 12 year sentence, of which four years were suspended for five years and Bilal Tayob was handed a 10 year sentence, suspended for five years with three years correctional supervision (house arrest).
Horrific evidence was given in court about how Raman and his co-accused, Nana and Tayob, had set out to kidnap Pillay, who Raman accused of having a relationship with his girlfriend. Raman further believed that Pillay had been ‘ratting him out’ for seeing other women while he and his ex-girlfriend were together.
During previous court proceedings, Nana and Tayob testified how Pillay, an Overport arts student, had been repeatedly stabbed in his own vehicle back in November 2014. Pillay was then thrown out of the car and dragged into the bushy area in Sherwood’s West Riding Row.
According to evidence given in court, the men drove around and came back to find Pillay had managed to crawl up the road and he was then knocked with his own car, a VW Golf.
The three men then drove off and reportedly tried to sell off Pillay’s car.
Pillay’s father, Benjamin Pillay, said he was disappointed at the outcome. He added that despite the way the court case went, this was closure for the family.
The IO in the case, Captain Krishna Naidoo, apologised to Tracy and the Pillay family for the outcome of the case.
“I am disappointed. Knowing that the entire entity of the trial did not come out. The contradiction of the state witnesses took our case to another level,” he said.