SOUTH AFRICAN MURDER
DETECTIVE-SERGEANT FOUND GUILTY HOT TO BE SENTENCED TO DEATH Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright CAPETOWN, May 17. (Received May 18, at Ip.m.) After a nine days’ trial Detectivesergeant J. H. Coetzee was found guilty on a charge of murdering Miss G. E. Opperman. The judge described crime as a brutal and gruesome one,: . • , Coetzee was a prominent Transvaal footballer and played against the Wallabies. He was intimate with Miss Opperman. She was motored some miles from Pretoria and was shot, the body being left on the railway line. The jury recommended mercy on the ground that Coetzee was driven to desperation by circumstances, having become engaged. Two days ago an Act was promulgated giving judges discretion m passing the death sentence. The judge adjourned the court after the verdict was announced, stating that he would consult his brethren and give his verdict to-morrow. In order to remove the prisoner’s dread'the judge said he would not sentence him to death..
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19350518.2.110
Bibliographic details
Evening Star, Issue 22032, 18 May 1935, Page 15
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160SOUTH AFRICAN MURDER Evening Star, Issue 22032, 18 May 1935, Page 15
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