Wrongly Convicted Database Record

 

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Neil Malherbe

 

Charge:

"Child Pornography (Possession, Manufacture, or Dissemination)"

Sentence:

9 months suspended for 3 yrs good behavior & sex offender registration

Years Imprisoned:

Year Crime:

2013

Year Convicted:

2017

Year Cleared:

2019

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

South Africa

County or Region of Crime:

Mpumalanga

City of Crime:

Nelspruit

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

"Neil Malherbe was wrongly convicted on May 3, 2017 of possessing child pornography in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa on August 15, 2013. Malherbe was the principal of Penryn Prepatory school in Nelspruit when he was arrested for allegedly having the images of children on his hom computer. The images were allegedly found during a police search of his home. Malherbe challenged the legality of the search warrant, but after the trial judge denied that motion, he pled guilty to three counts of possessing child pornography in contravention of South Africa's Film and Publications Act. Malherbe was sentenced to three months imprisonment for each count, suspended for three years of no similar criminal conduct, and his name was ordered to be entered into the National Child Protection Register. Malherbe's appeal was denied by the Gauteng Division of the High Court, sitting as the Mpumalanga Circuit Court. Malherbe was granted leave to appeal to South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal. On November 29, 2019 Supreme Court Judge Thokozile Mbatha set-aside Malherbe's convictions on the basis of insufficient evidence to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, because the search warrant was defective, and therefore all items seized by the police were inadmissible as evidence. Judge Mbatha ruled an oath was not properly administered on the facts alleged in the statement by a Commissioner of Oaths, and consequently the search warrant was invalid. Her ruling stated: the items seized by the police, “lack the status and character of evidence and are inadmissible.” Malherbe's guilt plea was invalid because it was predicated on the erroneous ruling by the trial court the search was legal."

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

"On November 29, 2019 Judge Thokozile Mbatha set-aside Malherbe's convictions on the basis of insufficient evidence to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, because the search warrant was defective, and therefore all items seized by the police were inadmissible as evidence. Judge Mbatha ruled an oath was not properly administered on the facts alleged in the statement by a Commissioner of Oaths, and consequently the search warrant was invalid. Her ruling stated: the items seized by the police, “lack the status and character of evidence and are inadmissible.”"

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"SCA overturns child pornography judgement, By Charl Pienaar, lowvelder.co.za, December 5, 2019"

Information Location 1:

https://lowvelder.co.za/516735/sca-overturns-child-pornography-judgement/

Information Source 2:

"Former principal in child porn case gets slap on the wrist – police, By Charl Pienaar, lowvelder.co.za, May 5, 2017"

Information Location 2:

https://lowvelder.co.za/385903/former-principal-child-porn-case-gets-slap-wrist-police/

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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org

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