Ex-banker to appeal after judge refuses to drop murder charge

Former Bank of Athens treasurer Vincenzo Pietropaolo has failed in his bid to have one of the murder charges against him dropped but is set on taking the decision on review.

Pietropaolo is on trial in the high court in Johannesburg, charged with the murder of his estranged wife, Manuela, and his father, Pasqualino, in two separate incidents.

In February, after the state concluded its case against him, the banker indicated through his lawyer, Louis Weinstein, that he wished to launch a Section 174 application.

This application essentially asked the court to acquit him on some of the charges without the defence having to argue against them, based on the argument that the state had failed to prove a case worth answering.

Pietropaolo had insisted the state had not proven beyond reasonable doubt that he had murdered his father, and therefore he wished to have that murder charge withdrawn.

However, judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng denied the application last week, saying the state had presented enough circumstantial evidence regarding Pasqualino’s death, which the defence needed to answer.

Pietropaolo was arrested in November 2017 shortly after allegedly shooting Manuela at her Brackenhurst, East Rand, home nine times.

His father was killed months earlier in what police initially thought was a botched robbery at his home.

However, after Pietropaolo’s arrest, the gun that had gone missing from the Pasqualino crime scene was found in his possession, and was believed to be the same gun used to kill Manuela.

The circumstantial evidence was enough for the judge to deny the application.

According to the lawyer on watching brief for Manuela’s side of the family, Casper Badenhorst, Weinstein indicated to the court that he wished to appeal against the judge’s decision, meaning that the decision may be taken on review before a panel of other judges.

The proceedings have thus been halted until the end of May for the review application to be resolved.

Pietropaolo remains in custody. –