A murder victim’s niece brought her aunt’s killer to justice after he raped and killed the woman in 2014, according to a Wednesday report from the Mirror.
What’s a brief history here?
Christine Robinson, 59, was brutally murdered at her 125-acre lodge in Limpopo, South Africa, in 2014.
Robinson’s former gardener, 32-year-old Andrea Imbayarwo, was found guilty on Tuesday of raping Robinson and slashing her throat before concealing her body in a duvet cover.
Following the murder, Imbayarwo fled to his native country of Zimbabwe and remained undetected for several years until Robinson’s niece, Lehanne Sergison, learned that he was back in South Africa.
What are the details?
Sergison, now 51, decided she would physically attempt to track down her aunt’s murderer and dole out a good helping of justice after becoming frustrated with the ongoing investigation into her aunt’s horrific murder.
She decided to set up a fake Facebook profile in order to flirt with Imbayarwo and eventually try to trap him in an amateur sting operation.
Posing as a woman called “Missy Falcao” — a combination of her pets’ names — Sergison virtually approached Imbayarwo and told him that she found him attractive and wanted to meet him.
“I told him I was a stewardess as it meant I wasn’t always contactable,” she recalled telling the killer. “Its as hard as this man murdered my aunty. I had nightmares when we were messaging each other.”
She said that he eventually agreed to meet her on a blind date in Johannesburg, but said that police ultimately failed to pick him up and he went on the run once more.
“I told the authorities but nobody was listening,” she said.
Once more, Imbayarwo was out of her life, having changed his name to Andrew Ndlovu.
Two years later, according to a report from the Daily Mail, she crafted a Facebook post naming his new alias as belonging to her aunt’s killer.
She shared a photo of the suspect to Facebook, writing, “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.”
Her post quickly went viral, and Imbayarwo again found himself in the spotlight after Ian Cameron, anti-crime activist, was able to locate him in South Africa.
Authorities soon arrested Imbayarwo and jailed him on murder charges.
During his murder trial, Imbayarwo claimed he had a sexual relationship with Robinson and denied raping and murdering his former employer.
He was found guilty on Tuesday and awaits sentencing.