According to military prosecutors, Morant retaliated for the death in combat of his squadron commander – a close friend – with a series of revenge killings against both Boer POWs and many civilian residents of the Northern Transvaal.

Morant was accused of the summary execution of Floris Visser, a wounded POW, and the slaying of four Afrikaners and four Dutch schoolteachers who had surrendered at the Elim Hospital, five of whom were members of the Soutpansberg Commando.

[3] A contemporary described him thus:[15]A shortish man, large features, small eyes (too close together), clean shaven, his skin red with alcohol, a horsey look about his dress, the manners and speech of a gentleman, of surprising physical courage (particularly on horseback), quite destitute of moral courage or moral principle; fond of exercise in the way of sport, he would never willingly exert himself to earn an honest shilling if he could borrow it off no matter whom; a confirmed dipsomaniac".Morant shamelessly drew upon the generosity of others[22] – often claiming to have been robbed[15] – and routinely failed to pay back loans or pay bills he owed, moving on before the debts caught up with him.

[15][22] In 1889, while in Blackall in central western Queensland, Morant was arrested, charged and convicted of obtaining money under false pretences from a man in Muttaburra – for selling the same horse to two different men – and was sentenced to three months hard labour in Rockhampton jail.

He retreated to a cattle station outside Renmark on the Murray River 250 km (160 mi) north east of Adelaide, where he obtained free food and accommodation by convincing a local member of the Morant clan that he was a relative.

It was then sent back to De Aar on the railway line between Cape Town and Kimberley from where it was moved up to Bloemfontein where it joined other Australian troops as part of the main advance to Pretoria under Field Marshal Baron Roberts.

[49] Morant and Burleigh arrived in Cape Town in late October and stayed at the palatial Mount Nelson Hotel where they wined and dined for several days awaiting the departure of their ship to England.

He mostly stayed with his unmarried sister Annie, who resented his long absence with little communication, and beyond a few trips to London to mix with a few people who knew his exploits, his visit only served to remind him of his unimpressive personal circumstances.

In mid-June, Morant's friend Hunt, whose service as a marriage registrar with the civil administration had come to an end, used his contacts at the Pretoria Club to secure himself a position as a captain with the BVC, although he did not reach Pietersberg until early July.

[77] In early June, Taylor had been accompanied by 60 men of A Squadron of the BVC commanded by Captain James Robertson to establish a base at Sweetwaters Farm about 130 km (80 mi) north of Pietersberg in the Spelonken region.

[88][89][90] In early July, a report from an intelligence agent operating in the northern Transvaal was received by Hall in Pietersberg alleging "poor discipline, unconfirmed murders, drunkenness, and general lawlessness in the Spelonken".

[97] On 18 July, a parade and festivities were held to "christen" the fort, and there were several visitors, including the Reverend Fritz Reuter of the Berlin Missionary Society and his family, who ran the nearby Mendingen Mission.

[103] When Morant's patrol, comprising mixed elements of B Squadron as most of his own troop was otherwise employed, returned to Fort Edward on the morning of 31 July, they brought with them 18 captured Boers, along with their women and children, 15 wagons, 30 rifles and 500 head of cattle.

At dawn on 30 July,[106] BVC Trooper James Christie – a New Zealand farmer in his civilian life[107] – had sent a messenger back to Fort Edward that a Boer laager had been located, with about twenty men with several wagons and carts and livestock to pull them.

According to historian Charles Leach, accounts by French anthropologist Henri Junod reveal that the traditional practice of the Lobedu people was to disembowel dead and dying warriors on the battlefield to set their spirits free.

"[124] According to Trooper James Christie, a New Zealander from Clutha on the South Island, when Morant ordered the patrol to form a firing squad, the men objected and one of the Lieutenants shouted, "If you're so damn chicken-hearted, I'll shoot him myself.

Trooper Christie watched as the Lobedu lifted Visser out of the cape cart in a blanket and laid him down twenty yard away in a sitting position with his back to the firing squad.

Heese and his driver, a member of the Southern Ndebele people, had travelled from Potgietersrus in to bring Mr. Craig, a British shopkeeper and Army Intelligence Scout, to be treated at the Elim Hospital.

of the Wiltshire Regiment (dark red hair, but whose name I forget)... Morant came up to me and said that his trial for the shooting of the Missionary was a scandal and a disgrace to the Army, that he was innocent, and that he was selected as a victim because he had shot a few damned Boers.

Deliberations continued for further two weeks,[159] at which time it became known that the indictments would be as follows: In a confidential report to the War Office, Col. J. St. Claire wrote, "I agree generally with the views expressed by the Court of Inquiry in the opinions of the several cases.

[166][page needed] On 25 February 1902, Ex-Captain Robertson was sent to personally collect Morant's and Handcock's death warrants from Lord Kitchener, whose Melrose House Headquarters was very close to Pretoria Prison.

After expressing disgust that Australian law in 1907 could, "allow a murderer to make money from his story", Wilcox continued, "George Witton's Scapegoats of the Empire promised to tell the truth about a war crime.

[179] At the time, Maj. Thomas was still unable to forgive himself for having failed to save Morant and Handcock's lives and had continued battling for decades to prove his clients innocence and to keep the case in the public eye.

The South African Government also erected a series of monuments to mark the locations of some of the incidents, including that of the nighttime battle at Duivelskloof, and the site of the mass grave of the four Afrikaners and four Dutch schoolteachers who were shot on Lt. Morant's orders during "The Eight Boers Case".

"[190] Morant's life, exploits, trial and execution have been examined in several books and numerous press and internet articles, but as noted above, each account varies very considerably from the others in both the facts presented and their interpretation.

I just gave the outline of the case to lord K but it is a bad one.Different commentators have taken the diary entry either to mean that an order to take no prisoners did exist, exonerating Morant and Handcock, or that they had clearly acted wrongly by accepting a surrender from the Boers but then shooting them.

[195] It said that while Morant and the others probably committed some crimes and may well have deserved disciplinary action, there is now persuasive evidence from several sources to show that the Kitchener 'no prisoners' order did indeed exist, that it was widely known among both the British and Australian troops and was performed by many disparate units.

As the Heese case shows, the veracity of Morant and Handcock is suspect, whilst Captain Robertson was a man who had turned King's Evidence, so Hunt's reputation remains, as it were, in limbo.

On Monday, 27 February 2012, in a speech delivered to the House of Representatives on the hundred-and-tenth anniversary of the sentencing of the three men, Alex Hawke, the Member for Mitchell (NSW), described the case for the pardons as "strong and compelling".

Other Morant effects contained in the bag included fragments of a trumpet, a bayonet scabbard, a bandolier, a cigarette case, brass drinking cups engraved with the initials HM, army field mess equipment, and a Boer War medal.