Man who shot beggar freed by court

A 76-YEAR-old pensioner, who shot and killed a beggar, is a free man after his murder conviction and eight-year jail sentence were overturned on appeal.

The Pretoria High Court, instead convicted Michael Jackson Booi of culpable homicide and ordered that he serve an effective three-year jail sentence.

This was backdated to April, 2013, when he was sentenced, meaning he is now a free man, as he had already served three years of his sentence.

The overjoyed Booi told the court that he would be reunited with his wife who he needed to take care of.

A trained security guard, Booi had in September 2011 agreed to leave his wife at their Eastern Cape home to stand in as a security guard for his son-in-law at a Chinese shop in Mpumalanga.

Booi said he agreed to go to Mpumalanga as he and his family were struggling to make ends meet.

While working at the shop, Booi shot vagrant Moses Magagula, who had been well known in the area and reportedly had a mental illness.

Earlier on the day of the incident, Booi asked Magagula to go away, as he was bothering customers at the shop.

The man did go away, only to return later.

Booi said he once again told him to stay away from the shop, as he was bothering customers.

He said Magagula became aggressive and he felt threatened when he reached into his pocket.

Booi said he had believed was taking outa firearm.

He took out his own firearm and fired one shot at Magagula’s head.

Witnesses, however, testified that they saw the beggar taking out a slingshot from his pocket, which he pointed at Booi.

Booi, who broke down in tears on the scene and immediately handed himself over to the police, said he had Magagula had no intention to harm the beggar.

Two judges on appeal accepted this version.

The appeal court said even if the deceased had pulled out his slingshot and pointed it at Booi before the lattershot him, it was reasonably possibly true that Booi, in a state of fear, did not notice the slingshot until it was too late.

“He thought the deceased had a gun and reacted before he realised that this was not the case,” the judge said.

The court found that he did not have the intention to kill the beggar and that he only wanted to protect himself.

The court reasoned that culpable homicide was a competent verdict.

The judge said it must be remembered that the events happened very quickly and there was no time for Booi to calmly consider his options.

His eight-year sentence was replaced with a sentence of five years, of which two were suspended.