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A gardener has today gone on trial for the rape and murder of a 59-year-old retired British teacher at her South African safari resort.
Christine Robinson’s alleged killer Andrew Ndlovu was tracked down by her niece in July 2020 in a honeytrap operation following six years of detective work.
Liverpool-born Robinson was found by police in July 2014 semi-naked wrapped in a blood-soaked duvet with her throat slashed at the 125 acre Rra-Ditau lodge she ran alone following the death of her husband.
She had drawn out £3,500 to pay staff at the luxury 30 guest lodge 150 miles north of Johannesburg on the Botswana border days before the attack, investigators later said.
Prime suspect Ndlovu, then 24, vanished and was thought to have slipped back over the border to his native Zimbabwe but later returned to South Africa where he was tracked down by Robinson’s niece, Lehanne Sergison.
Ndlovu, 32, who now goes by Andrea Imbayarwo, appeared in Polokwane High Court in Limpopo Province on Monday. He pleaded not guilty to rape and murder before the case was adjourned until the trial today.
Defence lawyer Desmond Nonyane has asked for the rape charged to be thrown out. He told the court on Monday that it was not possible to establish whether any sexual contact between Ndlovu and Robinson was consensual because Robinson is dead. He also said that state prosecutors had not managed to place Ndlovu at the scene.
But prosecutor George Sekhukhune said the Ndlovu’s semen was found in Robinson’s rooms, placing him at the scene of the crime. He also said phone records showed Ndlovu asking another employee for a lift to the Zimbabwean border, adding: ‘This is a show of a man on the run’.
A gardener has today gone on trial for the rape and murder of 59-year-old retired British teacher Christine Robinson (pictured) at her South African safari resort in July 2014
Robinson’s alleged killer Andrew Ndlovu, 32, (pictured) was tracked down by her niece in July 2020 in a honeytrap operation following six years of detective work
Police reports at the time said Robinson put up a huge struggle for life against her attacker who raped her then tried to strangle her then finally stabbed her to death in her bedroom.
She had defence wounds to her arms and hands and police at the time said it was clear from the furniture all over the place she had fought back but she was repeatedly stabbed and her throat was slit.
She was found by worried staff who broke down her locked door when she did not appear for work the following morning. When police arrived, Ndlovu was the only member of staff unaccounted for.
Progress in the case slowed when officers realised Ndlovu, the prime suspect, had likely fled over the border to Zimbabwe.
But Robinson’s niece Sergison, from Bickley, Kent, took up the charge after growing infuriated by the lack of progress by the police team in South Africa or the British Foreign Office.
She delivered a petition to Downing Street in 2014 begging then Prime Minister David Cameron to take action, though nothing was done.
Officials then told Sergison she would have to wait three years for a formal extradition process to bring Ndlovu back to South Africa from Zimbabwe.
But Sergison believed that he had already returned and set up a fake Facebook page posing as a pretty South African air stewardess and befriended Ndlovu’s contacts in a bid to lure him into a trap.
Robinson’s niece Sergison (pictured outside No10) took up the charge after growing infuriated by the lack of progress. She delivered a petition to Downing Street in 2014 begging then Prime Minister David Cameron to take action, though nothing was done
Tragically in 2012 Robbie from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who had two children from a previous marriage, died of cancer but Christine decided to carry on running it alone
The 125 acre Rra-Ditau game lodge in the foothills of the Waterberg Mountain Range near Thabazimbi in Limpopo Province
In 2019 she discovered he was using a Facebook alibi, traced it and found he was using dating sites. Using her fake identity, Sergison approached Ndlovu, telling him ‘he was hot’.
She arranged a date with him in Johannesburg where he lived and gave detectives a fortnight to prepare a plan, telling him that she was on long haul and would not be back until then.
Sergison asked South African police to set up a sting operation with an undercover officer attending the date. But officers said it was not possible due to ‘red tape’ and the date never took place.
Spooked, Ndlovu disappeared only resurfacing in February 2020 when he he posted a picture of himself on his fake Facebook page on his birthday and Sergison started tracking him again.
He refused to respond to her messages and Sergison changed tack, posting a picture of him on her Facebook page and asking South Africans to help find him.
Sergison wrote on Facebook: ‘Six years ago today this man raped and murdered my aunt Christine Robinson. Andrew Ndlovu is still a free man enjoying his life after taking hers.’
Senior Executive AfriForum, a pressure group in South Africa representing the minority white population, Ian Cameron saw Sergison’s appeal and reposted it on his page.
A contact eventually came forward and told Cameron, who attended the original murder scene, where Ndlovu worked and lived.
Cameron passed the information on to the police who raided the suspect’s lodgings at his employers house in Brixton, Johannesburg, and arrested him.
The suspect, who is now a construction worker, was arrested in Johannesburg in July 2020 by a specially put together South African Police team of experienced officers
Sergison at the time said: ‘The Foreign Office were useless and my MP Bob Neill was just a waste of space and I could get no help from the South African Police so I was on my own.
‘I nearly got him once with a honey trap but the South African Police could not get their act together and when I got photos of him the Foreign Office warned me not to post on social media.
‘I got so frustrated that on the sixth anniversary of my aunt’s murder I posted one anyway on social media and within 12 hours thanks to AfriForum this guy was locked in handcuffs. I would like to thank the very brave person who came forward and identified him.
‘This morning I posted on Facebook an appeal to find my aunt’s killer and went to my local garden centre to buy lavender which she loved and the next thing I know we have an arrest. I was never going to give up on my aunt and I hope she can now rest in peace,’ she said.
AfriForum’s Cameron said: ‘Six years ago I attended the murder scene as part of my job to help raise awareness of what is happening with regard to farm and game lodge attacks.
‘It was a very brutal murder and now to be part of the arrest of the prime suspect was very special and I am so pleased for Lehanne and now justice must be seen to play its part.
‘When I reposted and retweeted Lehanne’s post it was shared over 70,000 times and then I got this message out of the blue from someone who knew him and gave his details.
‘After that things moved quickly and later that evening the prime suspect was behind bars.’
Finally Sergison decided if nobody was going to try and bring her aunt’s alleged killer to justice she would do it alone and began her own investigation worthy of Agatha Christie. She posted this on social media on the sixth anniversary of her aunt’s death
Original investigating officer retired South African Police Colonel Sakkie Louwrens said at the time: ‘It has taken six years to the day but the man suspected of murdering Christine Robinson is in custody.
‘He is being taken to the original police station where his DNA and fingerprints will be checked with that found at the scene and I expect the investigation to move along very quickly.
‘I am delighted for the family that at last this man is in custody and facing justice.’
Robinson and her retired RAF mechanic husband Daniel ‘Robbie’ Robinson bought the game park in 2002 and turned it into a thriving business opposite a Big 5 game reserve.
Tragically in 2012 Robbie from Belfast, Northern Ireland, who had two children from a previous marriage, died of cancer but Christine decided to carry on running it alone.
She had taught English in a string of international schools around the world before meeting Robbie while teaching in Kuwait. They were married in 2005.
The trial continues.
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