Man on murder rap freed
MATTHEW Benson, 24, who was accused of murdering Tebogo Ndlovu and attempting to kill two of his friends in 2016, is now a free man.
The State had alleged that Benson fired shots at Ndlovu, Benny Lerumo and Thabiso Shole on August 2, 2016, after the trio from Majakaneng near Brits went to the Mooinooi farm intending to steal scrap metal.
Benson yesterday expressed happiness after Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, Judge JJ Hattingh acquitted him.
Benson’s family was present to share the moment with him.
Speaking to the media following the judgment, he said the journey had been an emotional one.
“I’m happy and grateful. I believed in my story because it was the truth. It has been an emotional ride for me and God pulled me through this whole situation.”
Benson said he always knew his name would be cleared.
When he took the stand yesterday, he testified that he saw two men on his father’s farm that day. He had called out to them to stop, as they were trespassing.
The two, who he could not identify, ran away through some bushes.
He said he did not go after them. Benson said they had been experiencing problems with trespassers on the farm, and in the past he had called the police about this.
Lerumo had testified that he and the two friends went to the farm to get oranges at about 8am on the day in question.
“This was the farm on which Mr Lawrence Chesworth was the manager.”
Later in the day, they jumped over a fence on to Benson’s farm. It was apparently their intention to go to look for scrap metal.
He testified how they went to an empty old house on the Bensons’ farm, where they found steel metal and brass metal, the court heard.
They were spotted and fled. But they claimed they were shot at and Ndlovu was injured in the leg.
He was carried for a distance by his two friends, but left behind when he collapsed.
They fled to their homes in the nearby township and told Ndlovu’s mother what had happened.
He did not return home, and his mother reported him missing two days later.
The police could not find Ndlovu or his body. Neither could the police, even when they took sniffer dogs to the farm.
The judge said Lerumo had failed dismally to tell the truth in his statements, and he had, therefore, rejected his version.
Before delivering judgment yesterday, Judge Hattingh said Lerumo’s testimony had an immense influence on the judgment as he was the only witness who testified about the identity of the attacker.
“It is found by this court that the State failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. I reject the version of Mr Benny Lerumo that he was able to identify the accused as the shooter.
“His evidence in this regard is found to be false, which is clear from the many contradictions in his viva voce evidence and all the discrepancies in his statements. It is clear to the court that Lerumo did not, on his own ability, identify the shooter.
“Mr Lerumo also did not hesitate to lie under oath, as demonstrated earlier in this court’s summation of his evidence. When one considers the conspectus of the evidence, the court must accept the version that Benson is therefore found not guilty on all charges,” the judge said.