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Sekola Matlaletsa, 44, and Sekwetje Mahlamba 32, the men accused of murdering farm manager Brendin Horner.
- DNA samples were taken from the murdered Brendin Horner.‘s bakkie and analyzed by a private laboratory.
- The results excluded one of the men accused of killing him, as his DNA profile did not match that of the collected samples.
- The DNA swab taken from the other defendant was defective and therefore inconclusive.
DNA samples taken from the murdered Brendin Horner bakkie could not be linked to the two men accused of murdering him on a farm in Paul Roux.
This was revealed by the State during the request for bail of Sekwetje Mahlamba and Sekola Matlaletsa in the Senekal Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
The men are accused of killing the farm manager on October 1.
The State admitted the samples after Matlaletsa’s legal aid attorney questioned why the police had taken DNA samples from the defendants on October 15, when the court was previously told that all the evidence for the forensic evidence had been presented on October 5.
The state said a private investigator had taken samples from Horner’s bakkie, which was found about eight miles from the crime scene, parked along the N5 that runs through Senekal, Paul Roux and Bethlehem.
These samples were taken to a private but accredited laboratory and have already been analyzed.
News24 previously reported that analysis results revealed that the DNA profiles of three different men were present in samples collected from the inside and outside of the bakkie.
After the result of the analysis, it was decided to take the DNA of Mahlamba and Matlaletsa to see if there was a match.
The results showed that neither of the men could be related to Horner’s bakkie, as the DNA profile did not match and the other swab was defective, making the test inconclusive.
The State did not reveal which evidence belonged to which defendant.
The other DNA found matched Horner’s.
READ ALSO | Brendin Horner suspects he ‘bragged about assaulting a white man on a farm’
While Mahlamba and Matlaletsa could not be conclusively linked to the bakkie, the State said this did not deter their case but rather strengthened it in terms of one of their witness statements.
This depended on evidence from a witness who claimed to have seen three men, including the two defendants, walking in a veld coming from the address where the murder occurred.
The witness also told police that two of the men had wet clothes and Mahlamba’s clothes were stained with blood.
If Mahlamba and Matlaletsa had been walking from where the bakkie was abandoned, they would have been walking from another direction entirely, the court heard.
The State also recorded that there were more attackers, which could explain the only DNA profile that does not match the samples taken from Horner’s bakkie.
The legal aid attorneys for Mahlamba and Matlaletsa had a different opinion and believed that this forensic evidence demonstrated that their clients were not involved in the murder.
Private attorney Joseph Kgoelenya, appointed by Legal Aid to represent Mahlamba, told the court that the state had no physical evidence to link him to the crime and was instead relying on weak circumstantial evidence from witnesses who were drinking at a tavern.
Kgoelenya was referring to the two independent witnesses who claimed that the two defendants had bragged about assaulting a white man on a farm.
The defendant allegedly made the remarks in a tavern on the night of October 2, the same day that Horner’s body was discovered.
Legal Aid Machini Motloung’s lawyer from Matlaletsa said the evidence was shaky and full of discrepancies.
“I presume that in light of the latest discovery [DNA on the bakkie] that the versions that the applicants have been presenting is a version that at this time cannot be shaken by the state, “Motloung added.
He said that Matlaletsa also had an alibi and that his wife had given a sworn statement claiming that he was with her from the night of October 1 until the morning of the next day.
Mahlamba’s girlfriend also claimed he was with her, but then turned himself in to the police when he woke up around 11pm, he was no longer there and only returned the next morning.
The State argued that the DNA samples taken from the bakkie neither made nor failed the case and that there was still a prima facie case against the defendant based on the statements of independent witnesses.
Also pending is the forensic analysis of the knife, Horner’s hat and the rope that was used to strangle him, all found at the crime scene, as well as the analysis of the clothing seized from the defendants when they were arrested.
Judgment on the bail request is expected to be delivered on Thursday.
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