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The man once dubbed a “psychopath” and “wife-killer” by Paul O’Sullivan’s Forensics for Justice has been set free after appealing his life sentence for the murder of his wife Odette.

The Gauteng High Court overturned his murder and fraud convictions based on the lack of incriminating evidence present during the original trial.

At the time, Barkhuizen was accused of murdering his wife over a R7.5 million insurance policy and making it look like a highjacking.

The Gauteng High Court also called this motive into dispute during the appeal as Barkhuizen took out a similar policy on himself as well, something Judge Johnson specifically pointed to.

“If it was planned to kill her for the life policy benefit, one would not have expected him to also take out a policy where she was a beneficiary in the event of his death.”

The biggest flaw in the prosecution’s case seemed to stem from eyewitness accounts that put Barkhuizen at the scene of the 2015 shooting, when in fact there were witnesses who confirmed he was not there during the time of the shooting. The witness’s testimony also changed as the trial proceeded.

According to an article on IOL, the judge questioned why the witness was not confronted for making two different statements.

In his statement he said he saw a black man wearing a tracksuit standing next to the car of the victim, with a firearm in his hand. The gunman was described as slender.

Judge Johnson said Barkhuizen was neither black nor slim at the time of the murder. Forensics for Justice had at the time also jumped on the case, and after a three-hour interview declared him a psychopath.

“Forensics for Justice took the case on, pro bono and on 17 September 2015, Barkhuizen was arrested for his wife’s murder, following a three hour interview by Forensics for Justice and the police. We attach the interview transcript, because is shows, not only what a psychopath this man is, but it will take you inside the mechanics of a murder investigation.”

Judge Johnson said he and the other two judges who presided over this appeal, ‘simply cannot come to the same conclusions as the trial court’. At the time Barkhuizen also decried the fact that he was focused on as the only suspect following Paul O’Sullivan’s interview, while judge Johnson seemed to echo this by stating the prosecution relied entirely on circumstantial evidence.

Businessman George Barkhuizen jailed for life for wife’s murderhttps://t.co/AOu4RnsCSN pic.twitter.com/6PhGKQRRV0

— News24 (@News24) September 28, 2019

Barkhuizen would have served life in prison for the murder, 15 years for the fraud, six years for possession of an illegal firearm, and two years for possession of illegal ammunition. He would have only been eligible for parole by the time he was 75.

If this is a case of wrongful conviction, it would mean that someone got away with murder because of sloppy prosecution.

[source:iol&forensicsforjustice]