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Sekwetje Mahlamba and Sekola Matlaletsa have been charged with murder. Photo / Shiraaz Mohamed.
A magistrate rules Thursday whether to grant bail to two men accused in the murder of Brendin Horner on the Senekal farm. Defense attorneys have strongly opposed the prosecution’s call for bail to be denied because defendants who are at large will cause civil unrest.
Sekola Matlaletsa, 44, and Sekwetje Mahlamba, 32, on trial for the murder of 21-year-old farm manager Brendin Horner, made a second appearance in Senekal Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Legal representatives for the two applicants stormed the case of investigating officer Gerhardus Myburgh when details of his arrest were revealed in a tavern and allegations of death threats were made to witnesses.
Machini Motloung, Matlaletsa’s legal representative, told the court that the police evidence in the case was full of discrepancies.
“His main argument (from Myburgh) is that the release of the applicants will lead to violence and public unrest,” Motloung said, ruling out any possibility. The lawyer also said that nothing presented to the court by the police connected his client to the crime.
Motloung proposed bail of 1,000 rand, explaining that his client’s financial situation was difficult and that he could not pay more. Matlaletsa received a R2,100 disability grant and he and his partner did odd jobs to increase their income, the attorney said.
Mahlamba’s legal representative, Joseph Kgoelenya, told the court that there was no evidence to suggest that his client would elope. Disputing this, Myburgh insisted that if Mahlamba was released he could flee as he knew that a murder conviction carried a heavy jail sentence.
The state prosecutor, who cannot be identified by the media due to the sensitivity of the case, objected to bail in part because of the conflicting evidence presented by the defense regarding the whereabouts and identity of one of the plaintiffs and his family. .
Plaintiffs also face charges of theft with aggravating circumstances.
Myburgh told the court that Matlaletsa’s relatives allegedly threatened a witness, warning him that if he continued to help police in the matter it would not last until December.
Horner’s body was discovered in the Paul Roux district on October 2, after he had gone missing the day before. The body was found tied to a fence, with a nylon rope tied around the head, on the property where he worked for farm owner Gilly Scheepers.
Myburgh told the court that Horner’s skin was flayed, indicating that he had been dragged over a rough surface.
The court also heard that after Mahlamba’s arrest, the police discovered bloodstained pants in a refrigerator in his hut. A pair of shoes and pants stained with blood was also found in another nearby house. Mahlamba denied possessing the pink T-shirt cited as evidence and denied that bloody pants were found in his hut.
More apparent evidence was found in Horner’s bakkie, which the killers allegedly drove for about 13 km from the crime scene before abandoning it. Myburg told the court that blood samples from in and around the bakkie had been sent to Gauteng for analysis. Both defendants had injuries to their elbows and the blood traces were from three different people, he said.
The court further heard that the plaintiffs had been linked to the murder by statements made by two patrons at a local tavern and by the plaintiff’s partner and brother.
A witness from the tavern claimed that one of the applicants had shown a wallet and cell phone that allegedly belonged to the deceased, while bragging about committing a murder on a farm.
When asked about this, Myburgh admitted that these items were not found in the possession of the applicants. Furthermore, the prosecutor admitted that one of the defendants had not been identified by the bakkie forensic samples, while the results of the other’s samples were still pending.
Kgoelenya said there were no witnesses to the crime, most of the evidence presented by the police was circumstantial, and there is currently no physical evidence linking the applicants to the crime, so bail must be posted.
One of the applicants claimed that the blood found on his clothing was from an animal slaughtered at a banquet he was attending.
Motloung asked Myburgh if it seemed strange to him that the two tavern goers did not mention the participation of a third person, even though other witnesses claimed that they had seen three people come from the farm.
Kgoelenya told the court that his client’s low level of illiteracy should be taken into account.
When asked if he had taken note of this, Myburgh replied that he only realized it when he took the applicant’s statement. Myburgh said he had used Sotho when interviewing the suspects, adding that he could speak and write quite well, but not perfectly.
Senekal’s magistrates court was quiet on Tuesday, in contrast to Friday, October 16, when protest groups such as the EFF, Afriforum, the ANC and local farmers gathered en masse outside.
This followed the events of October 6, when a group of farmers made international headlines by meeting in court to demand the surrender of the accused. The angry crowd stormed the court, overturned and set fire to a police vehicle.
This week, security in Senekal had been tightened, with roads near the court cordoned off. Nyala police vehicles were positioned at strategic street corners. DM
