A twisted gardener who was sentenced to life behind bars for the “heinous, brutal and shocking” rape and murder of a British safari lodge owner in South Africa stunned the court on Thursday, when he said that, he was not remorseful.
Andrea Imbayarwo’s lawyer, Desmond Nonyane, called him to testify in mitigation of his sentence after the guilty verdict.
Imbayarwo who worked as a gardener at the lodge at the time of the murder was asked by State advocate George Sekhukhune whether he was remorseful, Imbayarwo first replied: “No comment.”
But when the advocate probed further, he said:
I’m not feeling any remorse because I didn’t commit any crime.
He pleaded for a “reasonable sentence” to be imposed.
“The court can feel sorry for me and give a reasonable sentence so I can go out and look after my child,” he said.
He testified that he dropped out of school in Grade 9 because his family didn’t have any money. He came to South Africa from his home country of Zimbabwe when he was 17 years old.
“I had a friend who used to come to South Africa. He told me maybe we can find better jobs in South Africa. That time was very tough in Zimbabwe,” he said.
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 Andrew Ndlovu, 32, who later 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.
British-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.
