By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Sekola Matlaletsa (44) and Sekwetje Mahlamba (32) have on Friday been acquitted on charges of murder, robbery and stock theft in the Bethlehem Magistrates Court.
The men were accused of killing 21-year-old farmer Brendin Horner and tying his body to a fence just meters away from his home last year.
Horner was stabbed several times, and had abrasions to his thigh, which seemed to indicate that he had been dragged across a gravel road.
His body was found tied to a fence pole, metres from the gate to the house where he and his girlfriend lived on the farm.
Matlaletsa and Mahlamba have maintained innocence since the start of the trial in Senekal.
The Bloemfontein high court sitting in Bethlehem Magistrate’s Court ruled that the state did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
“It is clear to me that there is no coherent, credible or reliable basis on which the accused can be convicted on count number 1, stock theft, even an attempt to pick any one of the versions as the prosecutor attempted to do obviously fails dismally,”said Free State judge president Cagney Musi.
“I have doubt in my mind that the two accused were on that mountain. They are both entitled to the benefit thereof and the accused ought to be acquitted on this count as well.
Even an attempt to pick any of the version fails dismally and both accused are discharged and found not guilty on all counts,” the judge said.
During the trial, the NPA admitted that it had insufficient evidence to successfully prosecute the accused for murder and robbery.