THE mother of Burnley-born Stuart Gaskell today told of how she felt cheated by the South Africa courts after the men accused of her son's murder were acquitted.
Morne Bosch, Winston Blaauw and Quinton Marinus were cleared of the killing at a Cape Town judge.
Bosch was found guilty of three counts of robbery, while Winston Blaauw was convicted of theft relating to cartons of electrical equipment stolen from the premises where Stuart worked. Bosch got 10 years and Blaauw six years.
Sheila Park, who was with her son at the time of his execution-style murder in Cape Town last January, said today: "I don't know what to say. I feel very cheated by the judgement, but it is the outcome I expected all along.
"It was a farce from start to finish. It started with the case being heard in Afrikaans so my daughter-in-law Estelle and her mother Gloria could not understand what was happening.
"Then the judge walked out, the prosecutor had to pay for an interpreter and the case had to be restarted. It just wouldn't happen in this country." Cape High Court judge Pat Tebbutt told the hearing, which ended last night , that there was "grave suspicion" about Bosch, but suspicion was insufficient to convict him of murder.
Sheila said Stuart's employers, Value Truck Rentals, should have seen the robbery coming because just days before one of the company's lorries was hijacked.
She said: "They never improved security. They just had one man patrolling a large depot. If it hadn't have been Stuart then it would have been his boss Gavin. Stuart was the unlucky one who was working late that night.
"The security man rescued us from the truck and tried to stop us seeing Stuart's body. I am going to write to him to thank him for his kindness."
When the charges were first made five men were accused.One has since been murdered and when the trial opened two-and-a-half weeks ago charges against another were dropped because he had been shot in the head and had lost his memory - but Estelle told Sheila she saw him driving his car home.
Sheila, of Manchester Road, Burnley, added: "If the man they say was murdered was the man that killed my son then so be it, but if it is one of the others who did it I hope they watch their backs because they will get their just rewards some day.
"There is nothing I feel we can do from here in this country and with 60 murders a day the fact it got to courts is something in itself."
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article