Trusted Gardener Finally Appears in Court for Rape and Murder of Safari Lodge Owner

A once trusted gardener is appearing in court this week charged with the horrific murder and rape of a safari lodge owner after six years of detective work… largely by her niece, and almost eight years after the murder.

Retired teacher Christine Robinson, 59, was allegedly brutally attacked at the 125 acre Rra-Ditau lodge which she ran alone in South Africa after the death of her husband.

Andrea Imbayarwo (who was employed by Christine under the name Andrew Ndlovu until the day of the crime) faces charges of House break-in, Aggravated burglary, Rape, Murder and not being a legal immigrant (illegal foreigner).

British-born Christine had drawn out cash to pay staff at the luxury guest lodge, 150 miles north of Johannesburg on the Botswana border, when she was attacked in 2014.

Police reports at the time said she put up a huge struggle for life against her attacker who raped her, then tried to strangle her, then finally stabbed her to death with a knife.

The attacker is said to have 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 for 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.

On Monday Ndlovu, 32, pleaded not guilty at Polokwane High Court in Limpopo Province, South Africa, and the case was adjourned until Wednesday for full trial.

At the time police said Christine had defence wounds to her arms and hands and it was clear from furniture thrown all over the place she put up a desperate fight for her life.

After she was raped, police said she was repeatedly stabbed and her throat slit.

The prime suspect Andrew Ndlovu, then 24, had vanished and was thought to have slipped back over the border to his native Zimbabwe, then returned to South Africa.

Christine’s niece, chartered surveyor Lehanne Sergison, from Kent in the UK, 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. Despite repeated promises nothing was done.

The Foreign Office and the South African Police Service (SAPS) told Lehanne that she would have to wait three years for 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… yet, she 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 so began her own investigation worthy of Agatha Christie.

And on 30 July 2020 – six years to the day of the murder – her detective work from 6000 miles away, and her refusal to allow her aunt’s killer to escape justice, paid off when Andrew Ndlovu was arrested by police.

Lehanne’s own detective work to find her aunt’s killer

Lehanne first set up a false Facebook identity, posing as a South African air stewardess, and then – using the suspect’s social media page – she befriended some of his friends and those close to him.

In 2019 she discovered he was using a Facebook alibi and traced it where she found he was using dating sites. She then used her fake identity to tell 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 a long haul and would not be back till then.

Lehanne contacted SAPS 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 2020 when he posted a picture of himself on his birthday, on his fake Facebook page. Lehanne began tracking him again.

But the prime suspect had become wary of her and would not respond to messages. So, on the sixth anniversary of her aunt’s death, Lehanne posted a picture of the alleged killer and 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 aunt’s murder and AfriForum senior executive Ian Cameron saw it and reposted it on his Facebook and Twitter pages. (Cameron had attended the original murder scene of Lehanne’s aunt Christine.)

After Cameron’s repost, someone came forward who recognised the suspect and told him where the man worked, and importantly where he lived.

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.

Ndlovu was handcuffed at his home in Brixton, Johannesburg, in the grounds of his employer and was driven back by police to Thabazimbi district where the crime happened.

Overjoyed Lehanne said Christine and her retired RAF mechanic husband Daniel ‘Robbie’ Robinson had 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 had become a construction worker, was arrested in Johannesburg by a specially put together South African Police team of experienced officers.

Lehanne said: “The Foreign Office (in the UK) 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.”

On the day of the arrest, Lehanne wrote: “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.”

AfriForum’s Ian Cameron said in 2020: “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.”

Prosecution began this week. Bosveld Misdaad Ondersoeke, which was involved in Ndlovu’s arrest, in cooperation with SAPS and Col. Gawie Louwrens, posted a message on Monday saying: “South Africa is the rape capital of the world and innocent women like Christine have paid the ultimate price because of predators like the accused. 153 rapes per day and only 1/9 is reported. Murder just seems to be the status quo. We will do everything we can for some justice to be served in this case, even though it will never bring Christine back.
We are thinking of Lehanne Sergison and the family during the week ahead.”

Action Society has been appointed as watching brief.

Ndlovu claims relationship with victim

Ndlovu claimed in court that he and Christine had had consensual sex several times. He denies he escaped to Zimbabwe because of committing the crime. He claims he was going to visit his sick mother, and had popped in to say goodbye when they had consensual sex.

He got a lift to the Zimbabwe border with a colleague Hopewell who has told police that Ndlovu started shaking when he (Hopewell) received a call from the police looking for Ndlovu. He says Ndlovu pulled out a knife and demanded to get out.

Ndlovu testified in court that that wasn’t true and that he only got out of the car because he didn’t want to be delayed by Hopewell stopping to buy airtime to call his wife.

The prosecution also pointed out that Ndlovu’s girlfriend claimed he told her “I killed a white lady that I used to work for”, and that Ndlovu never returned to Thabazimbi when he got back to SA. In court this week, Ndlovu said his personal belongings in Thabazimbi “were of no sentimental value” and that the victim was “not my number one girlfriend, I found something better”.

His lawyer claims that the state “didn’t prove that sexual intercourse took place without her consent.” They only presented DNA tests.

Closing arguments are expected today.

To use any of the text or photos, please contact Jamie Pyatt News Ltd.