Oribi farmer found not guilty of attempted murder
The relieved family was thankful that he had finally been vindicated.
Derrick Claassen of Oribi Flats, accused of attempted murder (among other charges) in February 2017, was recently found not guilty of all the charges laid against him.
This was heard recently in the Ezinqolweni District Court, after a long, drawn out and disrupted four year trial.
The relieved family was thankful that he had finally been vindicated.
The charges were initially laid in February 2017, and subsequently withdrawn in May that year.
Despite this, it took four and a bit years for the case to finally finish.
At the time, Classen, then 44, faced charges of attempted murder, or alternatively assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and malicious damage to property.
Classen’s wife, Juliette, said that the biggest tragedy was that these ‘wild claims’ had led them to be stuck in the court system for so long and that her husband had suffered reputational harm.
“Still,” she said, “the wheels of justice might be slow, but they get there eventually.”
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