Nelspruit - DNA samples have linked a Mozambican man to a farm murder in Malelane, Mpumalanga, six years ago, the Nelspruit Regional Court heard on Wednesday.
Lorenzo Gideon Mazunze, 33, was arrested on February 22, 2008, following the murder of a farmer during a robbery at the Beintjies' family farm, a Sapa correspondent reported.
Mazunze, who was linked to 14 other cases, including house and farm robberies, murder, and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, was not asked to plead.
“Blood samples taken from the suspect and his co-accused, who is not before court, have linked him positively to the Beintjies farm attack...,” Captain Louis Christopher van Stander told the court.
He said the police received a number of complaints from Malelane residents about robberies starting in August 2007, and which stopped shortly after Mazunze's arrest in 2008.
Van Stander testified that on the day of his arrest, Malelane police received a call from a motorist about a wounded man lying next to the N4.
“On arrival, I found the suspect, who was bleeding from a bullet wound. He was lying about half a kilometre from the Beintjies' farm. He told me he had been shot by certain motorists while he was hitchhiking next to the road.”
He was in fact wounded during a shootout with the Beintjies.
Van Stander testified that after searching Mazunze, he found a wallet taken during another robbery at another farm.
It contained banknotes dating from the 1970s and 1980s. There was also a R5000 Mozambican bank note.
“After I went to the Beintjies' farm to investigate, I discovered there was another person who had been shot dead,” Van Stander testified.
The farmer's wife said the wallet belonged to her. A small bag and clothes stolen from the Beintjies' farm that night were also found in Mazunze's possession.
Subsequently, another farmer's wife, who was the victim of another farm robbery, said the bank notes belonged to her.
“The suspect was also linked positively to two more farm robberies around the Barberton area,” he said.
“I then went to draw blood samples from the suspect and took them to the Pretoria Laboratory for testing on March 28 2008. He was also positively linked to other cases of house and farm robberies around Malelane and Barberton,” he said.
Magistrate Andre Geldenhuys postponed the trial to April 16.
Sapa