Central SA
#BrendinHorner: 'DNA results do not link suspects'─── LUCKY NKUYANE 13:23 Fri, 04 Jun 2021
The long-awaited DNA results in the murder case of a young farm manager in Paul Roux near Senekal in the Free State "do not link the blood on the murder suspects' clothes to Brendin Horner".
According to the defense legal counsel, Machini Motloung, the results do not prove their clients' - accused number 1 Sekwetja Mahlamba and accused number 2 Sekola Matlaletsa - presence on the crime scene. He says they have since asked the court to not transfer the matter to the Circuit High Court because Mahlamba will be applying for bail on new facts.
Motloung confirms that the state has also added another charge of stock theft to the charge sheet of the two.
Mahlamba and Matlaletsa are now facing three charges, including robbery, murder and theft, after they were nabbed in October 2020 following the discovery of Horner’s body, which was tied to a pole near Fateng Tse Ntsho, at Paul Roux.
The case was postponed to Tuesday 8 June 2021, for the appointing of a new magistrate who is expected to preside over the bail application by Mahlamba, on new facts. Motloung adds that the bail hearing will then be set for either Thursday or Friday.
He says they don’t want the case to be transferred to the High Court while their clients are still in custody. The two pleaded not guilty to the murder and robbery charges and according to him, thus far there allegedly hasn't been any tangible material evidence such as DNA results that directly links them to the murder of Horner.
The duo was arrested by the Senekal detectives at Fateng Tse Ntsho in Paul Roux after Horner's body was found in a clearing on the farm with injuries on his head and face, and tied to a pole with a rope around his neck.
According to reports, police received a call from other farmers reporting the attack at the De Rots Farm and while police were on the scene, they seized a knife from the scene and his Toyota Hilux was later found with bloodstains, abandoned near the Duikfontein Farm in Paul Roux.
During the bail application of the two men, it was alleged by the state that evidence such as blood-stained trousers, amongst others, was found at Mahlamba's shanty.
The state's witness and the leading investigator, Captain Pieter Myburgh, previously told Magistrate Deon van Rooyen that according to witnesses, Mahlamba and co-accused Matlaletsa were allegedly heard bragging about how they stabbed a white male who was giving them problems.
Mahlamba was allegedly seen with the wallet belonging to the deceased at a local tavern in Fateng Tse Ntsho in Paul Roux before their arrest on the night of 3 October.
According to another witnesses' statement, it's alleged that Mahlamba, in the company of Matlaletsa and a third unidentified man, were seen descending from behind the mountains from the direction where the attack on Horner had taken place. His clothes were allegedly bloodstained.
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