Three young men each received five-year prison sentences or a fine of R10 000 after being found guilty of culpable homicide in the Louis Trichardt Regional Court on Tuesday.

The three, Matome Dupa Lesiba (23), Christopher Masekela (26) and Moloko Edgar Sebine (18), were arrested after the assault of an elderly man. The man died two days later.

The young men were part of a four-man group which walked home after a drinking spree at a local shebeen. The deceased saw them walking past and accused them that they were the criminals who were robbing the community. The deceased walked to the group of men and started beating them with his cane. They then hit the elderly man back.

Only Lesiba, Masekela and Sebine took part in the assault as the fourth man believed hitting an elderly person was not the right thing to do. The three left the badly beaten man and walked off. The elderly man later died in hospital.

On Tuesday this week the fourth man, who did not take part in the assault, testified that his friends had no intention of killing the old man. He further testified that if the old man had not started beating his friends, they would have left him alone.

Initially the three men were charged with murder, but the charge was later changed to culpable homicide. Half of their sentence was suspended for a period of five years on condition that they do not commit a similar offence during this time.