A contested confession could make or break the murder case against a Limpopo pig farmer accused of killing two women and feeding their remains to livestock.
Trial within a trial over the confession
Trial within a trial over the confession
- Zachariah Olivier's defense argues his police confession violated basic constitutional rights.
- Olivier allegedly never got access to a legal advisor before signing the statement.
- Judge Gerrit Muller is weighing whether the confession gets tossed entirely.
- Without it, prosecutors would need to lean hard on forensic and witness evidence.
- Three Zimbabwean women went to Olivier's farm near Polokwane looking for discarded food.
- Maria Makgato and Lucia Ndlovu were fatally shot, and their bodies got dumped in a pig enclosure.
- A third woman survived her injuries and escaped to alert others.
- Police recovered decomposed remains three days later with spent bullets and bloodstains.
- Olivier, his 20-year-old employee Adriaan de Wet, and worker William Musora all pleaded not guilty.
- Charges span two murder counts, attempted murder, and possession of an unlicensed firearm.
- Musora initially flipped to state witness, claiming he shot under Olivier's orders.
- His testimony has faced heavy scrutiny during cross-examination.
- A ballistic specialist linked bullets from the scene to weapons tied to the accused.
- Pathologists confirmed gunshot wounds as the cause of death despite pig-damaged remains.
- The surviving woman testified that the men chased and shot without any warning.
- Defense attorneys have picked at small inconsistencies across witness accounts.
- Protesters outside the court demanded no bail and swift justice for the victims.
- Makgato's and Ndlovu's families remember them as hardworking mothers in desperate circumstances.
- Gender-based violence advocates have seized on the case for broader awareness.
- Bail got denied over flight risk and witness-tampering concerns.
