Murder suspect lured by Facebook flirting
British woman set honey trap for man alleged to have killed her aunt in SA
Lehanne Sergison had nothing to lose when she started chatting to her aunt’s alleged killer on Facebook.
By then she was frustrated as South African police and the British foreign office had failed to track down her aunt’s gardener, the prime suspect in her murder at Rra-Ditau Lodge in Thabazimbi, Limpopo, in 2014.
This week, when Zimbabwean national Andrea Imbayarwo stood trial in the Polokwane high court for the murder of Christine Robinson, a British national, Sergison felt a sense of pride and relief that her honey trap from her London home eventually led to his capture in SA.
Sergison told the Sunday Times that in July 2014 a friend called her with the news that her aunt, a retired teacher who settled in SA and ran the lodge alone after the death of her husband, had been murdered.
“It is my understanding that she was late for a meeting on the Wednesday and one of the members of staff went to her house to remind her and found her in her bedroom wrapped in a duvet in a pool of blood. It was evident that she had been raped and stabbed in the neck,” she said.
Sergison had expected a quick arrest as Imbayarwo, who had called himself Andrew Ndlovu at the time, was the only suspect.
But she was forced to take matters into her own hands because the authorities said Ndlovu had left SA immediately after the murder.
“Nobody was doing anything. Police were talking to him on the telephone on the day of the murder but allowed him to cross the border. The British foreign office was hopeless and, because they thought he was in Harare, the South African judiciary made three failed attempts to serve an extradition order.
“I became more and more frustrated with the inaction so I started to follow him on social media, mainly Facebook, under a number of aliases. I could see him advertising on dating sites and my concern grew,” she said.
Sergison then became Missy Falcao, an air stewardess, who told Imbayarwo that his eyes were sexy.
“I didn’t expect a reply but it was almost instant. I was floundering and just started complimenting him. I told the authorities but nobody was listening,” she said. Sergison then contacted the South African police and Ian Cameron of the civil rights group Action Society with a plan to pounce on Imbayarwo during a fake date she made with him.
He slipped through their fingers when a sting operation using a woman to pose as her wasn’t approved by police in time for the meeting.
Sergison believes he then became suspicious of her, and lost interest in communicating. “I was very disappointed and thought it was a lost opportunity and he would remain a free man.”
However, Sergison still kept track of his Facebook page. On the sixth anniversary of her aunt’s death in 2020, she shared a photograph of Imbayarwo that he had posted on Facebook on his birthday.
Cameron also shared the photograph widely, and six hours later, Imbayarwo’s employer, who had seen the post, contacted Cameron and the police. Imbayarwo was arrested in Johannesburg that night.
“When I made contact with him in 2018, I was past caring. I was not afraid of him. He was in Johannesburg and I was in London and I never really thought of the consequences. When I saw that he was advertising on dating sites I was incensed by the lack of action,” Sergison said.
A retired chartered surveyor, she could not attend the trial this week due to a medical condition and appointed Action Society on a watching brief.
Cameron told the Sunday Times: “I must commend the team from South African Police Service at that time because with limited resources they really did try their best to find the accused, and obviously it became difficult once Imbayarwo had gone into Zimbabwe. The case went cold after the team leader on the investigation left the SAPS.
“Up until then everything was done according to the book and the docket perfectly compiled. The night we found the accused, I immediately phoned the former team leader and said we got him,” Cameron said.
Imbayarwo pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances and several contraventions of the Immigration Act.
Judgment is expected on Tuesday.
Police spokesperson Brig Brenda Muridili said the case was investigated in Limpopo province and she referred queries to her colleague there. No response was received.