Life sentence of student who stabbed police officers overturned

● ConCourt orders immediate release of East Cape man who believed cops were robbers

A law student who stabbed two Pretoria police officers he believed to be criminals out to rob him, has succeeded in having his murder conviction and life sentence overturned by the Constitutional Court.

Liqhayiya Tuta, of the Eastern Cape, was initially found guilty of stabbing the officers, who were in civilian clothes, when they tried to subdue him after a chase in the streets of Sunnyside, Pretoria, at about midnight in 2018.

Tuta appealed against the life sentence he was given by the high court in Pretoria in 2019, arguing that he had acted in self-defence and was not aware at the time they were police officers, and had mistaken them for criminals trying to rob him.

The Constitutional Court on Friday overturned his conviction and ordered the prison facility he is in to release him immediately.

“The appeal is upheld and the conviction and sentence are set aside,” the two-page order stated.

The court did not immediately furnish reasons for the decision but said they would be furnished at a later date.

“The head of the Kgosi Mampuru II Central Correctional Centre in Pretoria, alternatively the head of the Johannesburg Correctional Services or the head of the relevant facility where the applicant has been transferred, is directed to release the applicant from prison immediately,” the order stated.

Tuta’s sister, Linamandla Madikizela, had kept supporters of the family abreast of the lengthy case using her social media accounts.

On Saturday, Madikizela interviewed her family members on Facebook Live.

Liqhayiya was filmed saying he just wanted to rest.

Tuta’s mother, Zukie, was captured saying: “God is good, I don’t even know what to say.

“I knew that my God would do it and he has done it again.”

To those who had supported the family, she said: “I know people have done their best, I know people have been petitioning and contributing towards this case and I know that everyone was crying for this day.

“Praise God, that [this day] has come true. My last born is back,” she said.

Constables Kenneth Sithole and Lawrence Magalefa were driving an unmarked red VW Polo as they were part of

‘ I know people have been petitioning and contributing towards this case and I know that everyone was crying for this day’

— Tuta’s mother, Zukie

Operation Fiela which was targeting criminals in the Tshwane capital when the incident happened.

Sithole died at the scene, while Magalefa sustained serious injuries after being stabbed by Tuta.

Representing Tuta, advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi SC argued in the Constitutional Court in February that an intervention by the trial judge which prevented Tuta’s crossexamination had led to a trial irregularity that resulted in “an unsafe conviction”.

Ngcukaitobi successfully argued that had the cross-examination by the defence not been interrupted by a trial judge, it would have proved beyond reasonable doubt that Tuta acted in self-defence and had not been aware that the two men who had pinned him to the ground were police officers.

“It is this intervention that resulted in a trial irregularity that vitiates a conviction because at this point in time it was never put squarely to the accused that he subjectively knew the two gentlemen were police officers,” Ngcukaitobi argued at the time.

Tuta’s lawyer, Mabu Marweshe, said they noted the order and were waiting for reasons.

“As we have persisted in the Supreme Court of Appeal that the trial judge erred in applying the principle of private putative defence and our client’s rights to a fair trial were violated, including that the state failed to prove he was guilty of murder and attempted murder beyond reasonable doubt, we feel that our client’s rights have been vindicated by the apex court.”

Marweshe said the full judgment in the matter “will definitely create a precedent on these issues and contribute immensely to our legal jurisprudence”.