A twisted gardener has been sentenced to life behind bars for the “heinous, brutal and shocking” rape and murder of a British safari lodge owner in South Africa.
Retired teacher Christine Robinson, 59, was horrifically attacked at the 125 acre Rra-Ditau lodge she ran alone after the early death of her husband.
She was raped and then stabbed and her throat slit by evil Andrew Ndlovu, 32, who had changed his name to Andrea Imbayarwo to try and avoid arrest.
The failure of the police force and the British Foreign Office was slammed by her niece who was left to track down the killer of her vicious aunt all on her own.
Liverpool-born Christine had drawn out cash to pay staff at the luxury guest lodge 150 miles north of Johannesburg when she was attacked in 2014.
Police reports said she put up a huge struggle against her attacker who raped her then tried to strangle her then finally stabbed her to death.
He struck at the exclusive lodge which caters for 30 guests after she drew out £3,500 in wages and disappeared with the money leaving her dead.
Christine was found semi-naked wrapped in a blood-soaked duvet after worried staff broke down the locked door when they could not get a reply from her the next day.
Imbayrarwo 32, pleaded not guilty at Polokwane High Court in Limpopo Province, South Africa, but Jiudge Mariette Louw-Carstens found him guilty.
Judge Louw-Carstens denied him an appeal saying no other court on the evidence would find him innocent and said his crimes were “heinous, brutal and shocking” and gave him two life sentences for murder and rape.
The prosecutor earlie said she had defence wounds to her arms and hands and it was clear from furniture thrown all over she put up a desperate fight for life.
After she was raped police said she was repeatedly stabbed and her throat slit.
The prime suspect Ndlovu, then 24, had vanished and slipped back over the border to his native Zimbabwe then later returned to South Africa.
Christine's niece, chartered surveyor Lehanne Sergison, from Bickley, Kent, was infuriated by the lack of action by the police in South Africa or the British Foreign Office.
She delivered a powerful petition to Downing Street in 2014 begging that then Prime Minister David Cameron took action.but despite repeated promises nothing was done.
The Foreign Office and the South African Police told Lehanne that she would have to wait three years for a formal extradition to take place to bring him back to South Africa from Zimbabwe.
But she had heard he was already back in South Africa but said nobody would listen or help her.
Finally Lehanne, then 49, 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.
And in July 2020 six years to the day of the murder, her detective work from 6000 miles away and refusal to allow her aunt's killer to escape justice paid off when he was arrested by police.
Lehanne first set up a false Facebook identity using the prime suspect's social media page posing as a pretty South African air stewardess and befriended friends who were close to him.
In 2019 she discovered he was using a Facebook alibi and traced it and found he was using dating sites and using her fake identity told him 'he was hot' and over time befriended him.
She arranged a date with him in Johannesburg where he lived giving detectives a fortnight to prepare a plan telling him that she was on long haul and would not be back till then.
Lehanne contacted South African Police to try and set up a sting operation to meet him using a policewoman posing as her but due to red tape and inaction the opportunity was lost.
Her spooked target went to ground but she rediscovered him in February this year when he posted a picture of himself on his fake Facebook page on his birthday and began tracking him again.
But the prime suspect had become wary of her and would not respond to messages but on the sixth anniversary of her aunt's death Lehanne posted a picture of the alleged killer.
She asked the people of South Africa to look at his Facebook photo and help her find the suspect.
Lehanne said 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.'
She appealed for South Africans to help her try and find him on the sixth anniversary of her murder and AfriForum senior executive Ian Cameron saw it and reposted it on his page.
AfriForum is a pressure group in South Africa representing the minority white population and Mr Cameron had attended the original murder scene of Lehanne's aunt Christine.
He reposted Lehanne's appeal on Facebook and Twitter and someone came forward who recognised the suspect and told him where the man worked and importantly where he lived.
Mr Cameron contacted the original investigating police officer, who is now retired, Colonel Sakki Lourens.
This time the South African Police along with AfriForum went into action and within 12 hours of the original Facebook post they had raided the suspect's house and he was arrested.
He was handcuffed at his home in Brixton, Johannesburg, in the grounds of his employer and is being driven back by police to Thabazimbi district where the crime happened.
Overjoyed Lehanne said Christine 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.
The alleged killer had worked at the game park for two years and was a trusted member of staff but on the evening of the killing fled his quarters and skipped over the border.
The murder victim taught English in a string of international schools around the world and had met her future husband whilst teaching in Kuwait. They wed in 2005.
The suspect, who is now a construction worker, was arrested in Johannesburg by a specially put together South African Police team of experienced officers.
Lehanne 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.
South African Police confirmed that a 30-year-old man had been arrested in 2020 in connection with the rape and murder of Christine Robinson, 59, in 2014.
Original investigating officer retired South African Police Colonel Sakkie Louwrens said: 'It has taken six years to the day but the man suspected of murdering Christine Robinson was 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.'
A South African Police spokesman said: ”We are delighted with the verdict and two life sentences and that a dangerous man is now locked up”.
