Shepherds and Butchers

---

"Magazine hill",

they call this place.

Dead end.

Mmm.

Why would labuschagne

and the other men

in the minibus

have come up here?

He claims

he can't remember any of it.

So, Leon's bakkie

was parked here.

He left the keys

in the ignition,

then he ran that way.

The minibus taxi

belonging to

the football team was...

Came to rest here.

Point-blank range.

The gun they found

was registered in Leon's name.

He dragged

the bodies over there,

then he lined them up.

Wait. He lined the bodies up?

Why would he do that?

None of it makes any sense.

Oh.

You can see

the prison from over here,

where he worked.

Who's the judge?

Van zyl, the hanging judge.

The two of you should get on

like chalk and cheese.

Do you think

the state should kill people?

Majority support

the death penalty.

The majority

supported

burning at the stake,

witch dunking, crucifixion.

Sit!

Leon, this is John weber.

He's a senior advocate.

He's been asked to defend you.

I've been asked to,

but I don't

particularly want to.

Then why don't you go home?

Because your case is so bad,

no one else will take it.

I already told you,

i don't want you to defend me.

I don't want to talk.

I don't want to

see you, either.

Well, we've

fulfilled our obligations.

Let's go.

Hang on.

I've had enough of this cock.

I've spent a shitload of time

working on this case!

Listen to me, Leon.

You might be feeling

sorry for yourself now,

but you're gonna feel

a hell of a lot worse

when you get a death sentence.

I met your wife,

your little daughter, Esme.

When you last see her?

Six months ago?

I read in your file that

you were a warder in

the prison service.

I suggest you find out

what's in store for you.

Speak to the warders

when you go back to your cell,

ask them what

happens on death row.

I know what

happens on death row.

I worked there.

When this happened,

you were working

on death row at

maximum security prison?

Surely, you were too young.

I started working

there over two years ago.

On gallows duty?

Leave me alone.

Nobody gets away

with killing seven people.

Unless they're the police,

of course.

Bad break, my boy.

There's no defense

for an attack like that.

No, the guy's as good as dead.

Good serve, Andrew!

Paul, stand further back,

you get a better

chance to get to the ball!

Look at it this way, John.

Everyone gets a bad

case now and then.

You just got a hopeless one.

With soldiers who

return from combat,

a minority suffer

mental breakdown

after one

traumatic experience.

But only a very small minority

avoid breakdown

after prolonged exposure.

Which is what

this would have been.

In fact,

he reminds me of

veterans I've treated.

I'd say he's in

a similar state

of emotional collapse.

So, what you're saying,

as far as

the prosecution is concerned,

is that your tests

don't prove mental breakdown,

but also don't rule

out the possibility

that he could be

a racist or a psychopath.

My opinion?

Something triggered

a violent response.

Any idea what that

trigger might be?

I'm afraid not.

So, it follows, Dr.

schlebusch,

that there might

actually not be a trigger.

That's correct.

The trial of Leon labuschagne,

the man who shot

dead seven members

of a mamaloni football club,

starts in the pretoria

high court this week.

Human rights advocate,

John weber,

who's defending labuschagne,

is well known internationally

as an opponent of

capital punishment.

According to police sources,

labuschagne's

motives for the shooting

are unclear,

and any links to

right wing organizations

is pure speculation.

To date,

labuschagne has refused

to make a statement.

We won't have

many chances, Leon.

Once you're in

the witness box,

we'll be prohibited

from speaking to you

until you finish

giving evidence.

So, you've gotta

help us now, man.

Just give us a reason

for why things

happened the way they did.

There you have it.

He's been briefed

on how to respond

to the judge

and the prosecutor

and how to

answer our questions.

I don't know

what else I can do.

Stand up!

Hold it!

Labuschagne, look at this.

Mr. wierda obtained this

register from

the prisons department.

It lists

the names of all the men

hanged last year.

You must've participated

in some of these executions.

All of them.

Repeat that?

I was at all the executions.

According to this list,

164 men were

executed last year.

A record number.

If that's what it says.

Why were you present

at every execution?

Pierre.

Aye, John.

How is it?

Good.

Uh, could you let

me sit this side?

If you don't mind.

Yeah, sure.

Thanks.

So, how's my sister?

Surprised to

hear you're in town.

So, what's this business

you wanna discuss?

Pierre, um,

what do you know about the men

who work on death row?

Not much.

Well, I happen to know

that they take

part in executions,

but what I don't know is,

what kind of person does that?

What makes

someone take on the job

of killing someone?

John, I can't talk about that.

You should know that by now.

I don't mean you.

This is a boy they put

on gallows duty at 17,

for god's sake.

And you get another shot

at the evil system

you hate so much, eh?

Pierre,

they threw this boy into hell

and he went out

and shot seven men.

Now, he won't,

or can't speak

a word to defend himself.

You have contacts

inside the prison system.

They'll talk to you.

All right,

I'll make some inquiries,

but you're wasting your time.

'Cause the guys

who do what he does,

they don't talk about it.

They never do.

You should tell him

to keep his head up.

It's the victims' families,

they staring at him.

That's his parents,

his sister antoinette.

At about 18:
00,

on a deserted road

near the magazine hill quarry,

the accused forced

the minibus in which

the deceased were

traveling from the road,

then shot all seven

victims with a pistol.

Detective,

is this pistol, which is

registered in

the name of the accused,

the firearm that was used

to fire the bullets

found at the scene?

This is the pistol, m'lord.

That's all I have for

this witness, my lord.

Mr. weber?

No questions, my lord.

What are you doing?

I'll explain later.

The bakkie found

parked next to the body,

that too was registered

in the name of the accused?

Yes.

According to your report,

the vehicle would not start.

Correct.

He was forced to flee on foot.

That's all, my lord.

No questions, my lord.

Why didn't you

cross-examine anyone?

We can't argue facts.

If we admit everything,

we deny them the opportunity

for a parade of

emotional witnesses,

and rob

the case of its impact.

So, after a couple of days,

they'll have nothing left.

They found him,

they found the gun,

they found the bakkie.

That's all they've got.

That's all?

What have we got?

Leon is nearly comatose,

Dr. schlebusch will

barely speak to him...

If it goes that way tomorrow,

gentlemen,

we'll soon be

finished on our side.

Good night.

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