After 19 years behind bars, George Robertson walked out of prison a free man last week – his conviction for murdering his father overturned after a protracted battle to have his appeal heard.

Northern Cape (Kimberley) High Court Judge Cecil Williams ruled that the documents relating to the trial for the 2004 murder were inadequate and the only available evidence linking Robertson to the crime was the testimony of a former girlfriend, Betty van Wyk, who said Robertson had told her in 2002 he wanted to kill his father.

‘This incident in my view does not constitute sufficient circumstantial evidence to dispel any reasonable doubt,’ Williams ruled. ‘To compound matters even further, this appeal was heard almost 17 years after he was sentenced through no fault of the appellant.’

Robertson was 22 when arrested in 2004. He reportedly told the Sunday Times he was overwhelmed by his release from Tswelopele Correctional Centre in Kimberley.

‘I didn’t expect this,’ he said.

Asked if he would be seeking damages from the state, Robertson said his head was ‘still spinning’ but he was going to see a lawyer.

Robertson was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2006. He immediately applied for leave to appeal but the High Court dismissed his application in 2017. He then went to the SCA, which granted him leave in 2019.

He said his appeal had been heard in July and he had been waiting since then for the outcome.

‘Early last Friday my attorney (legal aid lawyer Heinrich Steynberg) came to the prison to tell me that I had won my appeal, and we just had to wait for the warrant.

‘When it arrived at about 3.30pm I packed up all the stuff that is valuable to me and just walked out.’

Full Sunday Times report

Judgment