‘They’re gutless, spoilt children November 8 2014 at 12:19pm Former Royal Marine Brett Williams, who was beaten to death at Kings Park Stadium last year. By DUNCAN GUY, GIORDANO STOLLEY and SAPA Durban - Louise Scott, the fiancée of Brett Williams, the former Royal Marine killed at Kings Park last year, will visit his grave on Saturday. There, she will apologise on behalf of the “gutless spoilt children” she believes were involved in taking his life in a post-match brawl after the Sharks beat the Melbourne Rebels in March 2013. Three of the four men charged with Williams’s murder walked free from Durban Regional Court on Friday after magistrate Trevor Levitt discharged the case against Kyle Shepard, 25, Andries van der Merwe, 23, and Dustin van Wyk, 23. “They will live knowing what their involvement was and, like gutless spoilt children they cannot even find it in themselves to apologise,” said Scott, the mother of Williams’ child, Lailah. Levitt ruled that Shepard’s younger but larger brother, Blayne, 23, would have to stand trial for murder. The evidence against the three did not meet the required standards for a trial to proceed, Levitt said. However, he had words for the brother who walked. “I am uneasy about this decision. I come to the conclusion I have not heard the full story. I believe accused number two – Kyle Shepard – to have been more involved than what meets the eye.” They had each faced a charge of murder, three of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and one each of crimen injuria and public violence. Their counsel had applied for the discharge under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act. Scott, in an e-mail on Friday night to the Independent on Saturday from her home in Britain, wrote: “I shall apologise to Brett for having his life stolen from him. I shall apologise for Lailah having to go through life without an outstanding father and mentor, and I apologise for myself living with this immeasurable pain and sense of loss.” Scott said she was stunned at the level of incompetence that had surrounded this case. “Brett was completely let down by a lack of care and respect. There were huge failings with the security, a completely inadequate autopsy, which made getting and securing vital evidence difficult.” She said she hoped measures would be taken to address this in South Africa. “I would hate for any one else to go through what we have. “For 19 months I have been kept pretty much in the dark, only finding out about proceedings via newspaper reports. She called British and South African authorities “totally useless”. “It has been only the power of ordinary people that has helped me.” A month after losing her fiancée, Scott told the Western Daily Press, a newspaper in her home county of Somerset, that she had faith in South Africa’s justice system and was confident his killers would be brought to book. He was killed on March 23 – her birthday – and had called her hours before his death to wish her a happy birthday. In court Christo van Schalkwyk, for the Shepard brothers, Raneshan Naidoo, for Van Wyk, and Malcolm Lutge, for Van der Merwe had argued there was insufficient evidence against their clients and that the State had failed to prove who delivered the fatal blow. Referring to video footage showing the men leaving the stadium with two of them imitating a stomping motion, Van Schalkwyk said it could not be assumed this had anything to do with the fight. Levitt disagreed, saying: “Two of the accused were clearly enacting what they had seen.” He said that contrary to suggestions by the defence, he had not seen any evidence that suggested a conspiracy on the part of the security guards or stadium officials to implicate them. “We have all been hamstrung by the evidence given by the witnesses,” he said, finding that this might have been caused by poor lighting and intoxication. He did not accept assertions by the defence that Williams fell and hit his head on a trailer. “The deceased could not just have fallen to cause his own death. I’m in agreement with the prosecution that all the witnesses who saw stomping could not have all been dreaming. I am satisfied the deceased’s death was caused unlawfully.” Levitt ruled that Williams’s first fight with Grant Cramer, a friend of the Shepard brothers, had not caused his death. He agreed with the defence that no evidence of intent had been presented in relation to the assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm charges, arising from assaults on security guards and paramedics that night. He ruled against a crimen injuria charge which arose from a security guard being called a k***** because the guard, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, had not understood its meaning at the time and could therefore not have had his dignity impaired. The State’s charge of public violence was, according to him, “not appropriate”. After the ruling Van Schalkwyk said he was happy, but did not want to comment as the case against Blayne Shepard was ongoing. Andries van der Merwe said he was relieved the charges against his son, also Andries, had been discharged. “He’s a good lad. He’s like me. He stands by his friends, but youngsters need to learn not to talk with their fists.” Van Wyk smiled and refused to comment as he walked out of the court building. The Shepard brothers declined to comment, but Kyle smiled as he walked out of the building with his lawyers. The case against Blayne resumes on Wednesday. Independent on Saturday
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 12:29:31 +0000
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