Rugby star who killed daughter escapes prosecution

Former Springbok rugby star Vleis Visagie who accidentally shot dead his teenage daughter thinking she was a car thief is not to face charges.

“We are of the view Mr Visagie has suffered a great deal and the pain of losing his daughter would be worsened by the fact that his hand was instrumental in taking that life,” said National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Makhosini Nkosi.

“The directorate of public prosecutions in the Transvaal region decided not to prosecute purely on humanitarian grounds.”

Visagie and his wife Frieda were asleep at home near Nelspruit, when his wife woke up early on Sunday morning shouting that someone was trying to steal their daughter’s car.

Visagie shot at the car as it was moving out of the drive.

The couple then discovered he had killed their daughter Marle, 19, on her way to surprise her boyfriend on his birthday.

“We are very happy and I am grateful and the family is grateful at the decision taken,” said Visagie’s lawyer Tom Dreyer.

“One of the factors that they most probably took into account is that no court can impose a sentence that will be more of a punishment than he has to live with”.