SCA finds Coligny-2 not guilty on all charges
Pieter Doorewaard and Phillip Schutte have been acquitted of all charges against them by the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.
The High Court in North West earlier found the two men guilty of murdering 15-year-old Matlhomola Moshoeu in the so-called sunflower case.
Moshoeu died in April 2017 when he fell off a moving vehicle after two caught him stealing sunflowers.
The state alleged that Doorewaard and Schutte threw the teenager off the vehicle.
In 2018, they were found guilty and sentenced to 18 and 23 years in prison.
With the help of lobby group AfriForum, they appealed the conviction and sentencing.
On Friday, the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned both the convictions and sentences.
"We are happy about the judgment, justice is not having innocent people in jail. We knew from the beginning that they were innocent because it was clear from evidence that the states only witness lied, and this is why we funded them for their appeal," says Afriforum CEO Kallie Kriel.
"Justice has been served, those two men can now go home because they are not guilty.”