Doorewaard and Another v The State

The appellants, two farm workers, were convicted in the North West High Court on charges including murder, kidnapping, intimidation, theft and pointing of a firearm arising from the death of a 15-year-old boy, Mathlomola Jonas Mosweu, on 20 April 2017. The State’s case rested almost entirely on the evidence of a single witness, Mr Sibongile Pakisi, who alleged that the appellants assaulted the boy, threw him from a moving bakkie, and later intimidated and assaulted Pakisi himself. The appellants denied Pakisi’s version and maintained that the boy was apprehended for theft of sunflower heads and jumped from the back of their bakkie while being taken to the police station. Extensive shortcomings in the police investigation were alleged, including failure to collect forensic evidence, failure to call key witnesses, and contradictions in Pakisi’s version.

The appeal was upheld. The convictions and sentences were set aside and replaced with an order that both accused are found not guilty and discharged.

The judgment reaffirms core principles of South African criminal law regarding the evaluation of mutually destructive versions, the cautious use of single-witness evidence, and the consequences of poor police investigation and failure to call material witnesses. It underscores that serious investigative lapses and lack of corroboration can fatally undermine the State’s case.