Five court assessors found Kaitani and his co-accused not guilty on 12 August. Judge Anthony Gates ratified their decision on 15 August. He said that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendants were guilty of the charges specified. ""The State's case relied on certain key witnesses as its supporting pillars,"" Gates said. ""If the pillars of the case were not ultimately to be relied on, the house which the prosecution sought to build would collapse. This appears to have been the result in this case ... each of the three central pillars of the evidence upon which the prosecution relied, possessed potential and obvious defects ... (that) could properly give rise to reasonable doubt about the guilt of each of the accused."" He declared Kaitani and his fellow-accused acquitted.