Smythe Patrick Montrose (Prof)

Age 86. During the incident, a group of men infiltrated the property, ambushed the elderly academic, and subjected him to a violent physical beating while robbing the premises.He did not die immediately at the scene but succumbed to his injuries and died in the hospital on July 30, 1999, nearly a month after the initial assault took place.Following a police investigation, four suspects were arrested and brought to trial before the Pietermaritzburg High Court. In September 2000, Acting Justice Faisel Moola convicted all four men on charges of housebreaking and robbery with aggravating circumstances. However, the state failed to definitively prove that the physical assault was the singular, direct medical cause of his death a month later in the hospital, which resulted in the court finding the men not guilty on the specific charge of murder. The four individuals were subsequently sentenced to lengthy jail terms specifically for the aggravated robbery and farm attack offenses.