"I would rather see a guilty man go free, than see an innocent man go to jail".

These were the words of regional magistrate Mr Ronnie Rambau on Monday, January 15, after finding Mr Victor Moiyo (43) not guilty on a charge of murder during his court appearance in Makhado (Louis Trichardt).

Mr Moiyo, a Zimbabwean man working in England, was accused of murdering his 35-year-old wife at Villa Grande last year. He allegedly confronted his wife and accused her of having an affair with other men. An argument ensued which got totally out of hand, with Mr Moiyo allegedly ending up strangling his wife. He later gave himself over to the police. Mr Moiyo told police that it was an accident and that he had not intended killing his wife. He was arrested and a murder case was opened.

The case against Mr Moiyo continued this week. During the court proceedings, Dr Goshi, a medical examiner, gave his expert opinion in the case. Dr Goshi testified that it was clear that Mr Moiyo did not use his hands to strangle his wife and that a piece of cloth, which was found around her neck was suspected to be the murder weapon. He also said that a post-mortem had revealed that the victim had been severely assaulted before being strangled. In addition, Dr Goshi said that Mr Moiyo had to cut off the victim’s oxygen for one to two minutes, before she would lose consciousness and die.

In his defence, Mr Moiyo argued that he acted in selfdefence. He said his wife allegedly attacked him with a chair. It was this claim of self-defence which let magistrate Rambua to find Mr Moiyo not guilty. Apart from saying he would rather see a guilty man go free, than see an innocent man go to jail, magistrate Rambua added that if the suspect was guilty, he would not have handed himself over to the police.

It is difficult to say whether the State will appeal against the decision, as Mr Moiyo left the country to go back to England after being found not guilty.