Bees Roux will soon join the Golden Lions rugby team, while the family of the black metro policeman he had killed in Pretoria, Johannes Nshimane Mogale, had “forgiven him unconditionally”.
In 2010 the rugby player beat the 38-year old sergeant to death in Hatfield and the following year he received a suspended sentence of 5 years in prison. Among the conditions of his plea bargain was as payment of R750 000 in compensation to the Mogale family.
Lions coach Johann Ackermann confirmed on Monday that Roux (31) would most likely be included as prop in the team during the coming Currie Cup season. According to Manie Booysen, the chief executive of the Golden Lions Rugby Union (GLRU), there was “technically no impediment to choosing Bees. It will be a pity if people saw his involvement in the wrong light. The chap has shown remorse.”
“We are selecting him for rugby and no other reason. He is a prop that is available coming back from abroad,” Ackermann said.
“We are in a tight spot as there are no other players that are not under contract, so we’ll pull him into the group and see how he goes.”
The Lions coach said letters in which the Mogale family offered their forgiveness to Roux had made the decision easier to look at the player.
“We have two letters dating to 2011 and 2013 where the parents and the family personally give their blessing to him to play rugby and they even want him to play for South Africa,” Ackermann said.
“This gave us somewhat of a positive outlook because they (the family) are willing to forgive and forget and to give him a second chance in life.”
A month after he pleaded guilty the Blue Bulls Rugby Union sacked Roux for breach of contract and he later took up a contract with French club the Bordeaux Eagles.
In 2012 he joined Italian team Treviso until the end of the European season this year, while he also featured in the South African Barbarians team in a match against Saracens in May.
Fresh off securing their place in the 2014 Super Rugby competition through a superior points difference to the Southern Kings in their two leg promotion-relegation matches, the Lions are facing a crisis at prop.
Captain JC Janse van Rensburg, who was the main anchor in the front row for the Lions has left the team for Bayonne in France, while Julian Redelinghuys suffered a long-term injury over the weekend.
“We are looking to borrow another prop from somewhere as we actually only have three fit props in Ruan Dreyer, Jacques van Rooyen and CJ van der Linde,” Ackermann said. – Sapa and praag