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- The request for bail for the men accused of the murder of Brendin Horner began on Friday in Senekal Court of First Instance.
- During the lawsuit, the State revealed some evidence collected by the police and what the witnesses said.
- The evidence includes blood-stained clothing, fingerprints, and cell phone records.
The request for bail from the two men accused of murdering Free State farm manager Brendin Horner has revealed some of the evidence the state wants to rely on, including forensic blood tests, witnesses and cell phone records.
Sekwetje Mahlamba and Sekola Matlaletsa appeared before Senekal Magistrates Court on Friday to request a formal bond.
Opposing bail, the State called Captain Gerhardus Myburgh, investigating officer on the matter, to give a loud voice [oral] evidence.
WRAP | EFF, Farmers Face Another Day of Chaos in Senekal as Bail in Horner Case Postponed
Horner disappeared Thursday night, October 1, when he is believed to have been murdered after allegedly being approached by the defendants. His body was discovered on Friday morning, October 2, on the same farm where he worked and lived in Paul Roux.
Injuries and cause of death
Myburgh said Horner sustained stab wounds to the head, shoulder, arm and hands, according to the autopsy. All the wounds were sustained during the same attack.
The autopsy also revealed that the cause of death was strangulation.
Myburgh testified that Horner had abrasions on his thigh, indicating he was dragged across a gravel surface.
Bloodstains were found on the path near the door leading to her home, as well as bloodstains on the path to where her body was found.
A large amount of blood was also found near where Horner was tied to a fence post. A knife was found in his hat, which was close to his body.
Forensic evidence
The court heard that after Mahlamba was arrested, the police found a pair of bloodstained pants in a freezer in his hut.
In another shack on the same property, police found more bloody clothing, including a jacket and a pair of shoes.
Mahlamba denied that the pants were found in a freezer in his hut and said he did not have a pink shirt that was taken as evidence.
Police confiscated the freshly laundered and drying clothes from Matlaletsa’s home when he was arrested.
Police also took finger and palm prints from Horner’s bakkie, which was found abandoned about eight miles from where he was killed. The prints were still being analyzed and compared with the fingerprints taken from both defendants.
READ | Blood drawn from Brendin Horner’s bakkie is from three different men, according to court
Myburgh also told the court that blood was drawn from the interior and exterior of Horner’s bakkie and sent to a private laboratory in Gauteng.
This evidence was collected by a private investigator and revealed that the blood came from three different men.
The police captain stated that both defendants had abrasions on their elbows when they were arrested.
As for the forensic evidence collected, the police were still waiting:
- Forensic analysis of collected clothing;
- Fingerprint and palm print analysis;
- Mobile phone records.
Alibis
The State released its witnesses, who allegedly saw the defendant walking from the farm’s address that Friday morning and reported that both defendants allegedly boasted of assaulting a white man on the farm.
Myburgh said one of the witnesses reported seeing three people coming from behind the mountain in Paul Roux Township.
He said that Mahlamba and Matlaletsa were identified as two of those people who were walking towards the village, coming from the direction of the farm.
READ | Brendin Horner suspects he ‘bragged about assaulting a white man on a farm’
Two other independent witnesses told police they saw Mahlamba and Matlaletsa together in a tavern on Friday night.
The sole witness allegedly said he overheard a conversation between the defendant and a third person in which Mahlamba bragged about “assaulting a white man on a farm because he was bothering them,” Myburgh said.
The other witness apparently told police that Matlaletsa said they had tied the white man, now identified as Horner, to a fence post with rope and fled in his vehicle. They said they had the man’s wallet, according to the witness.
Myburgh said the details given by Matlaletsa matched the crime scene and that it was based on this information that police made the arrests.
Event defense version
Mahlamba told the court that he was not at the farm Thursday night and spent the night and Friday morning with his girlfriend.
Furthermore, he testified that the blood on his clothing was from a sheep that he slaughtered for a traditional party at a Pinky’s home in September.
The state, however, said it was in possession of a sworn statement from his girlfriend, who said that she and Mahlamba went to bed Thursday night but she woke up later to find that he was gone and He only came back in the early hours of Friday morning.
As for the traditional festival, the police followed that lead and Pinky told them that, although he knows Mahlamba, he was not at the party, nor did he sacrifice a sheep, the court heard.
READ | Senekal: one arrested for carrying a firearm without a license, but ‘there is no truth’ in the trunk that carries weapons
Mahlamba also told the court that the authorities did not tell him why he was arrested, how he was linked to the crime and what crimes he was charged with.
He even said that the police told him they would release him because tests indicated that the blood on his clothes was from an animal.
The court also heard that Mahlamba has a pending stock theft case, but no prior convictions.
Matlaletsa, who requested bail through an affidavit, told the court that he intended to plead not guilty and would not enter into the merits of the case.
He told the court that he lives on a disability grant, that he also supports his wife and four children.
According to Matlaletsa, he was convicted of:
Theft of shares in 1986 and sentenced to 18 months in prison
Theft of shares in 1994 and sentenced to four months in prison
Illegally buying a pig in 2000 and was not sentenced to prison
The State did not find these convictions in the system, but rather found that he was convicted of:
Burglary in 1998 when he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Robbery in 1999, sentenced to four months in prison
Theft of shares in 2010, sentenced to six months in prison, fully suspended
Raid in 2011 and payment of a fine of R50 for admission of guilt
Both men said they were unemployed and could only post bail of 500 rand.
The matter has been postponed until October 20, when Myburgh will be questioned by defense attorneys.
