White ‘deserved medal’

Press, 26 May 1984, Page 10

White ‘deserved medal’

NZPA-AFP Johannesburg A householder “deserved a medal” for killing a thief that he had caught stealing 63c (NZ76.4c) left out for the milkman, a South African judge said in Johannesburg. Judge Irving Steyn acquitted a white bus-driver, Francisco Quintino, aged 56, of a charge of murdering Macks Lerutla, a black, in October. Since the incident, “there have been no more thefts in the area,” the judge noted, adding, "the accused could therefore have rendered a service to the community. The Court heard that Mr Quintino had fired twice through a half-open window without intending to kill after hearing the sound of a home-made burglar alarm he had rigged by tying a saucepan to his garden gate. The judge said that he had “the greatest sympathy” for Mr Quintino. and that the amount of money did not matter. “Nobody can blame you for not going outside to arrest the thief. If I had to catch somebody inside my house, I’d shoot him,” he said.