Horner Brendan "Choppie"

Age 21. Brendin "Choppie" Horner worked as a farm manager for the Bloukruin Estate near Paul Roux in the Free State province. On the evening of October 1, 2020, he visited his father at a neighboring farm and left around 7:00 PM to head back to the De Rots farm where he lived with his girlfriend. He never arrived.When he failed to return, his family and girlfriend launched a search party. Early the next morning, on October 2, 2020, his body was discovered in an open space on the De Rots farm. He had been tied by his neck to a metal fence post with a rope and a girdle. Horner had suffered a severe and violent struggle to defend himself; his body bore multiple stab wounds to his head, face, shoulder, arms, and hands. There were also extensive abrasions and scrape marks on his body and thigh, indicating he had been dragged along a gravel road. His blood-stained bakkie (pickup truck) was found abandoned nearby. The sheer cruelty of killing a young man at the very start of his career inflamed an already sensitive political climate surrounding farm attacks. Police quickly arrested two local men, Sekwetje Mahlamba (32) and Sekola Matlaletsa (44), in the Fateng tse Ntho township, initially suspecting them of being part of a local livestock theft syndicate. The subsequent criminal trial took a dramatic turn. The State’s case relied heavily on circumstantial evidence, including a state witness who claimed he overheard the two men boasting at a local tavern about "stabbing a white man". However, during the trial, the state witness changed his testimony and denied the contents of his initial statement. Crucially, the forensic and DNA evidence failed to back up the arrests:DNA Exoneration: Extensive forensic testing revealed that the blood found on the suspects' clothing and a knife seized from a freezer did not match Brendin Horner's DNA.Vehicle Traces: None of the fingerprints or DNA profiles found inside Horner’s abandoned bakkie matched the accused; the blood samples in the vehicle belonged to three completely different, unidentified individuals.Alibi: Mobile phone tracking records verified that neither Mahlamba nor Matlaletsa were near the crime scene at the time of the murder.Conceding that the case had completely fallen apart, the prosecution dropped the murder and robbery charges just before closing arguments. On November 19, 2021, Free State High Court Judge President Cagney Musi formally acquitted both Sekwetje Mahlamba and Sekola Matlaletsa of all charges, citing insufficient evidence.