Chris Mahlangu was found guilty of the 2010 murder of rightwing leader Eugene Terre’Blanche by the High Court sitting in Ventersdorp on Tuesday.
His co-accused, Patrick Ndlovu, was acquitted of murder but found guilty of house-breaking with intent to steal.
Mahlangu, 29, and Ndlovu, 18, were accused of hacking and beating Terre’Blanche to death on his North West farm in April 2010.
The men had pleaded not guilty to murder, housebreaking and robbery with aggravating circumstances. Mahlangu claimed he acted in self-defense, while Ndlovu denied involvement in the crime. Both declined to testify.
“There is no evidence forensically or physically linking (Ndlovu) to the murder,” Judge Horn said, adding that blood spatters on the wall, the ceiling and the bed in the room where Terre’Blanche was killed showed Ndlovu could not have been present during the murder. “To say that he intended to kill would not accord with the facts.”
The judge said he did not believe Ndlovu played an active role in the attack, and that he was merely a passive bystander. He was also found not guilty on the charge of attempted robbery, but was found guilty of house-breaking with the intent to steal.
Claims that Terre’Blanche had sodomized one of his attackers were rejected by the court.
“Sodomy is such a personal intrusion, I can’t believe (Mahlangu) would not have raised it immediately,” Judge John Horn said.
He called sodomy an attack on a person’s dignity and said it was demeaning. “It is the equivalent to rape.”
Delivering his judgment, Judge Horn asked why the claims of sodomy were only mentioned towards the end of the trial and only through other witnesses. He said Mahlangu saw the semen-like fluid seen on Terre’Blanche’s genitals as an opportunity to use sodomy as a defense.
However, the judge said the notion that this fluid had indeed been semen was never proven, and neither was the origin of the fluid.
“I therefore reject any suggestion that (Mahlangu) was sodomized,” he said.
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