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Sekola Matlaletsa, 44, and Sekwetje Mahlamba 32, the men accused of murdering farm manager Brendin Horner.
PHOTO: Alex Mitchley / News24
- The two men accused of murdering farm manager Brendin Horner are expected to be indicted in a stock theft case that is unrelated to Horner’s murder case.
- Sekwetje Mahlamba already faces an additional charge of stock theft. His co-defendant, Sekola Matlaletsa, was convicted of stock theft in the past.
- This new charge takes a toll on Sekwetje Mahlamba’s claims that he had no relationship with his co-defendants.
The two men accused of murdering 21-year-old farm manager Brendin Horner are expected to be charged in another stock theft case that took place in the eastern Free State.
Sekwetje Mahlamba and Sekola Matlaletsa appeared in Senekal Magistrates Court in the Free State on Tuesday morning, where their request for bail continued with questioning of investigating officer Capt. Gerhardus Myburgh.
Myburgh told the court that Mahlamba and Matlaletsa would soon be charged with stock theft in a case unrelated to the Horner murder case.
READ | Bloodstains, witnesses: bail request gives insight into case against Brendin Horner murder defendant
Horner was strangled to death on a farm in Paul Roux on October 1 and police previously said that Mahlamba and Matlaletsa were suspected of being on the farm to steal livestock.
Mahlamba is currently charged with a stock theft matter and is scheduled to appear in court for that case in February 2021. He was out on bail in that case when Horner was killed.
Matlaletsa has a longer background sheet that includes a prior conviction for stock theft.
According to a report by SAP 69, Matlaletsa was convicted of:
- burglary in 1998, for which he was sentenced to 18 months in prison;
- robbery in 1999, for which he was sentenced to four months in prison;
- theft of shares in 2010, for which he was sentenced to six months in prison, totally suspended; Y
- trespassing in 2011, for which he had to pay a fine of R50 for admission of guilt.
However, during the request for bail, Matlaletsa put on record and said that he was convicted of:
- theft of shares in 1986, for which he was sentenced to 18 months in prison;
- theft of shares in 1994, for which he was sentenced to four months in prison; Y
- illegally buying a pig in 2000, for which he was not sentenced to prison.
Myburgh said the conviction report did not find any of the convictions he mentioned in his affidavit, which his Legal Aid attorney read from the record.
The emergence of this new stock theft case also takes a toll on the evidence offered by Mahlamba, who claimed that he did not know Matlaletsa and that they were not friends.
Mahlamba told the court that, other than seeing him in Paul Roux Township, he had no relationship with Matlaletsa. It is also the reason why, although they both chose to use Legal Aid, they are not using the same attorney. Legal Aid instructed a private attorney to represent Mahlamba separately.
Three independent witnesses have provided evidence that they saw Mahlamba and Matlaletsa together.
READ | DNA samples taken from Brendin Horner’s bakkie cannot be linked to the defendant, court hears
The first witness told police that he saw three men walking in the veld toward the township from the address where Horner was killed at around 6 a.m. on October 2, the same day that Horner’s body was discovered. Two of the men were identified as Mahlamba and Matlaletsa. The witness noted that Mahlamba’s clothes were stained with blood.
Mahlamba previously told the court that his clothing, which was seized by the police when he was arrested, was stained with blood because he slaughtered a sheep for a traditional festival in September. This alibi has been discredited by the state because the host of the party told police that although he knew Mahlamba, he was not at the event, nor did he sacrifice any animals for the party.
Two other independent witnesses also placed the two defendants together in a tavern on the night of October 2, where, they alleged, Mahlamba and Matlaletsa bragged about assaulting a white man on a farm.
All of these accusations have been disputed by Mahlamba and Matlaletsa through their lawyers, who argued that the evidence against their clients was weak and circumstantial.
Judgment on the bail request is expected to be delivered on Thursday.
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