Jeffreys Bay murder accused found not guilty

Donovan Wolf, who was accused of murdering a Jeffreys Bay man, has been found not guilty by the Gqeberha high court.

The judgment comes five years after Wolf was charged with the murder of fellow Wavecrest resident Clyde Stuurman.

Stuurman, 26, was shot dead when Wolf tracked him down after his wife reported a suspicious person walking in the open field behind their home.

The judgment on Friday relates to the incident on the night of February 10 2021.

Judge Avinash Govindjee said he accepted Wolf’s argument that, after reporting the sighting of a suspicious figure to the neighbourhood watch, he had pursued the man into the bush on the edge of an empty plot.

The judge said he also accepted that the man, subsequently identified as Stuurman, had emerged from the bush and attacked Wolf with a knife, and that the accused had acted in self defence.

“The state has not proved beyond reasonable doubt that the firing of the fatal shot exceeded what was reasonably necessary to repel the attack,” Govindjee said.

“... The state has not proved that — in circumstances that have not been excluded as reasonably possible — Mr Wolf had a safe and clear non-lethal alternative, whether by retreating, firing elsewhere, or otherwise avoiding the fatal shot.

“Mr Donovan Wolf is found not guilty of the charge of murder and is discharged.”

The state argued that the shooting was unlawful and presented evidence indicating that Wolf had intentionally driven into Stuurman before the shooting.

It also brought evidence that it said indicated that the knife found in his hand after he was killed had been planted there.

According to Wolf’s plea explanation, his wife had spotted an unknown man wearing a hoodie crossing open veld in the area.

This aroused suspicion, given that a break-in had occurred in the area a few days before.

According to the explanation, while his wife contacted the neighbourhood watch for assistance, he armed himself with a handgun, got into his bakkie and drove to where the man had been seen.

He saw the man running across an open plot into bush on the edge of the R102 and drove over the plot in pursuit.

“He then exited his vehicle and, still armed, approached the corner of the plot where he had last observed the person,” the court document reads.

“Despite firing a warning shot, the person proceeded to approach him with a raised arm, holding a knife.

“Mr Wolf started walking backwards before firing what he recalled as being two shots towards the man, who tried to grab his firearm and struggled with him, causing him injuries to his left forearm and right lower leg.

“At some stage, he hit the person against the head with the firearm before running towards his vehicle.”

Govindjee said Wolf’s account reinforced the conclusion that the accused had not been merely observing “but was seeking to intercept or confront the deceased”.

“Considered in context, Mr Wolf’s conduct followed what he believed to be a recent break-in, and occurred after he had called for assistance from the neighbourhood watch.

“This reduces the likelihood that he was pursuing a concealed purpose to attack the deceased in the bush, knowing that assistance had been called and that others were expected to arrive.

“The fact that Mr Wolf created the circumstances in which the confrontation occurred does not, without more, determine the lawfulness of the fatal shot.

“It is not equivalent to proof that he initiated an unlawful attack on the deceased.”

He said the state had not proved what unlawful attack Wolf was said to have initiated.

“It follows that the state has not proved that any knife threat by the deceased was a lawful defensive response to an unlawful attack initiated by Mr Wolf.

“It remained for the state to exclude the reasonable possibility that, at the critical moment, Mr Wolf was repelling an imminent unlawful knife attack.”

The judge said after considering all the evidence, he accepted that the deceased had a knife in his hand during the encounter.

“That finding does not, by itself, prove private [self] defence.

“The questions that remain are whether the state has excluded the reasonable possibility that, when Mr Wolf fired, he was faced with an imminent unlawful knife attack, whether his own prior conduct deprived him of private defence, and whether the force used exceeded what was permissible.

“The state has not proved that, before any knife threat arose, Mr Wolf initiated an unlawful attack on the deceased, so that any knife threat by the deceased was a lawful defensive response.”

He said in all circumstances, the state had not proved that, by his prior conduct alone, Wolf had lost the protection of self defence.

“Negligence in creating the conditions for a confrontation does not, without more, establish culpable homicide where the operative act causing death was the fatal shot.

“The relevant question is whether, on the evidence as a whole, the state has proved that a reasonable person in Mr Wolf’s position, confronted with the circumstances that have not been excluded as reasonably possible, would have avoided the fatal shot.

“It has not.”

The judge said he accepted the testimony from neighbourhood watch representative Sarel Breytenbach that he had already heard the suspect had attacked Wolf with a knife and, because he could not see a knife and he was concerned it had been lost in the bush and a suspected housebreaker would escape responsibility, he had planted another knife near the body.

He said Breytenbach’s action was reprehensible as it had contaminated the scene but there was no indication that he had colluded with Wolf in this regard.

“It explains why the possible planting of the knife found in the deceased’s hand ... to support a false account of [self] defence, as the state has inferred ... requires careful scrutiny.

“But it does not, without more, establish that the knife found in the deceased’s hand was also planted.”

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said on Tuesday no comment was immediately available from the authority as it was a public holiday.

Several attempts were made to contact Stuurman’s family but they could not be reached for comment.

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