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A grieving niece who used Facebook to ensnare her aunt’s killer from 6,000 miles away today spoke of her joy as he was handed two life sentences.
Super-sleuth Lehanne Sergison used a honey-trap plot to catch the fugitive suspected of raping and murdering widower Christine Robinson, 59, in 2014.
Andrew Ndlovu, 32, was today locked up after killing former schoolteacher Christine at the sprawling safari lodge she ran in South Africa.
Lehanne Sergison (pictured) underwent a six year mission to lure her aunt’s killer to justice by pretending to be a flirty air hostess
Christine Robinson bought the 125-acre Rra-Ditau lodge in Limpopo, South Africa, near the Botswana border, with her husband Daniel, also known as Robbie. She continued to run the 30-guest lodge after his death in 2012
Andrea Imbayarwo, 32, has now been found guilty of attacking his 59-year-old employer back in 2014
He was brought to justice after Lehanne, from Bickley, Kent, posed as flirty alter-ego Missy Falcao to reel in the killer after swapping hundreds of late-night missives
Speaking after Ndlovu – who changed his named to Andrea Imbayarwo to try and dodge arrest – was jailed for a minimum of 22 years, Lehanne, 51, said: ‘Christine Robinson was a kind, funny and brave woman who evidently fought to her last breath for her life.
‘She was the complete antithesis of Imbayarwo – a violent predator who brutally raped and murdered her simply because he could.
‘A guilty verdict and lengthy sentence is very much welcomed.
‘The judge recognised the heinous nature of the crime and it is reflected in the sentence.
‘Gender based violence and femicide is far too common throughout the world.
In 2014, Lehanne Sergison delivered a petition and 430 letters to No.10 Downing Street, asking then prime minister David Cameron to take action in pursuing an arrest in South Africa
Ms Robinson’s niece, Lehanne Sergison, now 51, spent years writing to her aunt’s killer online and tried to set up a sting operation with South African police. Pictured, Christine and Daniel Robinson
‘Justice is hard to equate when someone is killed in such horrific circumstances. But we will take solace that Imbayarwo will not have the opportunity to hurt rape or kill again.’
Christine, a former schoolteacher from Speke, Merseyside, ran a sprawling 125-acre safari lodge on the edge of the stunning Marakele National Park, 150 miles north of Johannesburg on the Botswana border.
A keen traveller, she spent time teaching English in Kuwait, Moscow and France, before making the Rra-Ditau retreat her home with ex-mechanic husband Daniel ‘Robbie’ Robinson, before his death from cancer in 2012.
Her stabbed body was found bundled inside a duvet in August 2014, with fistfuls of the £3,500 wages she had earlier withdrawn to pay staff stolen.
In South Africa, local police were quick to pinpoint Imbayarwo, then 26, a gardener who had worked for Christine for two years, as a suspect.
He vanished from his living quarters at the 30-bed lodge on the night of the killing and was picked up on CCTV heading for the Zimbabwe border.
Police interest in the case waned as months passed, and, infuriated by a lack of help from the UK foreign office, Lehanne grew incensed that her aunt’s killer still walked free.
Christine Robinson and her sister Diane, Lehanne’s mother. After her husband’s death Ms Robinson had said she wanted to sell the ranch rather than run it alone
And after a tip off that he was active on Facebook under the name Andrea Druza, Lehanne took it upon herself to track him down.
Posing as a 28-year-old air stewardess called Missy Falcao – inspired by the names of her greyhounds Slowland Missy and Phoenix Falcao – Lehanne hatched a plan.
She began to slowly add his friends before finally plucking up the courage to message him directly.
The pair swapped hundreds of midnight oil chats over a two-month period, leaving Lehanne sick after flirting with her aunt’s killer.
When Imbayarwo gradually revealed himself to be an electrician living alone in the Brixton suburb of Johannesburg, Lehanne set up a date and tipped off detectives in June last year.
But the planned sting operation went awry when the suspect failed to show and he again disappeared into the ether.
But, after a seven month social media silence, he suddenly reappeared in February 2020 – posting a birthday picture of himself on his Andrea Druza profile.
The pair decided to settle in South Africa and open a ranch after falling in love with the countryside in 2002
On July 30, 2020, she posted his photo on Facebook – against Foreign Office advice – telling followers: ‘Six years ago today this man raped and murdered my aunt Christine Robinson.’
The post was shared 70,000 times and within hours Imbayarwo was tracked down to the grounds of his new employer, where he worked installing garage doors.
Imbayrarwo pleaded not guilty at Polokwane High Court in Limpopo Province, South Africa, but Judge Mariette Louw-Carstens found him guilty.
Judge Louw-Carstens said his crimes were ‘heinous, brutal and shocking’ and gave him two life sentences for murder and rape.
Lehanne was unable to attend the trial and sentencing because of health problems.
She said: ‘We all wanted to attend, to hear his reasoning, his excuses and to look him in the eye.
‘He didn’t even have the decency to plead guilty, his arrogance has been his downfall. He did not count on the kindness of the people of South Africa to be so alarmed by his crime they wanted to help and for police officers to help beyond their duties.
‘I miss Chrissie every day and the joy she brought to everyone she met.
‘For the past eight years there’s not been a day when I hadn’t thought about the injustice of her murder and how her killer remained at large.
‘The pain never subsided and only served to make me more determined to find the person responsible.
‘Members of my family thought I was nuts and should let sleeping dogs lie – but there’s no way I could do that.
‘Auntie Chrissie was a life force. She was one of those people who makes the world a better place.
‘Her murder has taken 8 years of my life and it will continue. In this heinous crime, we all suffer the grief day after day.
‘Christine was a much loved sister, aunt, step-mother and a dear friend to many people all over the world. Christine’s life was taken by a vile, cowardly predator who subjected her to the most horrific and terrifying death simply because he could.’
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