Decision today on Flippie case

There was a notable absence from Worcester Regional Court yesterday when arguments were heard for discharging the case of assault in which amputee Flippie Engelbrecht was an alleged victim.

Engelbrecht, 20, did not make it to court. He was allegedly assaulted on a Robertson farm in 2008 by manager Wilhelm Treurnicht and owner Johnny Burger. The latter committed suicide last year.

The defence argued that the case should be thrown out of court due to unreliable testimony from Engelbrecht's family.

"The state's case is so weak that the accused doesn't have to answer to it, and we base that on the credibility of the state witnesses," said advocate Pieter Botha.

Botha told the court that Katriena Engelbrecht, Flippie's mother, had presented two different accounts, saying initially that her son had been hit on the head, then that he had been kicked.

But prosecutor Mornay Julius defended the state witnesses.

"The court needs to consider the six years that have lapsed [since the incident allegedly took place] and the impact on the memory of the witnesses," Julius said.

"The witnesses' testimony is not important [in] the case."

After proceedings, Engelbrecht's parents would not confirm the whereabouts of their son. Nosey Pieterse of the Bawsi Agricultural Workers' Union of SA also had no idea where Engelbrecht was.

Pieterse worked with Carina Papenfus, former secretary of Family Trust, a non-profit organisation, to draw attention to the case.

Engelbrecht claimed that after the assault an operation left him blind and that he suffered from epilepsy. In 2012 he had a seizure and fell into a fire. His arms were amputated.

Papenfus has been accused of fabricating Engelbrecht's story.

She said: "The Freedom Trust [ensured that] prosecution was instituted . The outcome is in the hands of the court now."

The court will decide today whether the case will be discharged.