Freed Senekal accused fears for life
Matlaletsa’s successful bail application a doubleedged sword
The family of one of the accused in the murder of a farm manager is living in fear after receiving death threats from the community.
The family yesterday said Sekola Matlaletsa ’ s successful bail application was a doubleedged sword for them as their community in Fateng Tse Ntsho had accused them of shaming them after his arrest.
Matlaletsa, who is accused of murdering farm manager Brendin Horner, 21, at a farm in Paul Roux was granted R5,000 bail in the Senekal magistrate ’ s court yesterday. His co-accused Sekwetja Mahlamba was denied bail.
Matotelo Mokoena, Matlaletsa ’ s mother-in-law, yesterday told Sowetan that they have been receiving threats from community members and have been told to leave their home.
“We are happy that he was granted bail but we are also scared of what might happen. We are scared for his life and we are scared for our lives because people have been threatening us and telling us to leave, ” Mokoena said. “We don ’ t know if the white people will come here or not because they wanted to burn down Senekal because they wanted to get their hands on Sekola.”
Mokoena said they were threatened with death if they did not move house.
We did not open a case at the police because we don ’ t trust them as well. People have been saying that we brought shame to our community and that we deserve to have the same fate as that white boy,” she said.
Riots broke out in the small town of Senekal on October 6 when Matlaletsa and Mahlamba made their first court appearance.
Mahlamba ’ s father, Elias Mahlamba, told Sowetan that hewas sadthat his sonwasdenied bail. “I am not happy about this but there is nothing we can do. I don ’ t believe my son killed that white boy but we will allow the law to take its course, ” he said.
While handing down judgment on the pair ’ s bail application, magistrate Deon van Rooyen said the state ’ s case against Matlaletsa was weak and that he showed exceptional circumstances.
He said save for the two statements obtained from witnesses, there was no evidence linking Matlaletsa to Horner ’ s murder. “There are no eyewitnesses and the DNA results taken from the bakkie were inconclusive as far as it relates to him, Van Rooyen said.
He said despite the state ’ s assertion thatMatlaletsa posed a flight risk, Matlaletsa has been attending his court cases in relation to two other matters.
On denying Mahlamba bail, Van Rooyen said his girlfriend ’ s statement cast suspicion on him. “There ’ s evidence in the form of a statement taken from the girlfriend indicating he was not in their house when she woke up around 11pm and arrived home at around 4am on October 2,” Van Rooyen said.
He said Mahlamba has some explaining to do about his whereabouts.
He said when Mahlamba ’ s house was searched, two pairs of trousers with blood stains were found along with a pair of muddy shoes.
“The accused lied about the second shack where a pair of trousers with blood stains was found in a deep freezer. He said it was locked and that it was not searched in his presence. It raises suspicion that perhaps he knew that the pair of trousers was hidden in the deep freezer,” he said.
Van Rooyen said Mahlamba had the potential to interfere with investigations as he knows two of the witnesses in the matter.