The Reverse “Tinder Swindler” — Woman traps aunt’s alleged killer after Facebook flirting
Lehanne Sergison nearly trapped her aunt’s alleged rapist and killer in a reverse romance scam after flirting with the man on Facebook.
Also known as a honey trap, Sunday Times reported that Sergison said she was “beyond caring” for her safety when she contacted him.
She wasn’t afraid of him as she was in London and he was in Johannesburg, but Sergison also said she never really thought of the consequences.
Sergison’s aunt, Christine Robinson, was raped and murdered on a game farm she managed — allegedly by one of her employees.
Robinson, a British national and retired school teacher had moved to South Africa with her partner Robbie in 2002, the Daily Mail reported. They married in 2005.
Together they managed the Rra-Ditau game lodge on the borders of the Marakele national park, roughly 14km from Thabazimbi, Netwerk24 reported.
Doctors diagnosed Robbie with terminal cancer in 2012. After briefly returning to the UK, he succumbed.
According to Sergison, Robinson didn’t want to continue running the lodge without Robbie and considered selling it.
However, on 30 July 2014, she was found murdered in her bedroom. The knife used to cut her throat was still stuck in her neck.
The only suspect, Zimbabwean national Andrea Imbayarwo (aliases Andrew Ndlovu, Andrea Druza), skipped the country the following day.
Sergison made contact with Imbayarwo in 2018, masquerading as a flirty 20-something air hostess.
“When I saw that he was advertising on dating sites, I was incensed by the lack of action,” Sergison told the Sunday Times.
According to the report, South Africa tried and failed three times to get an extradition order for Imbayarwo. Police all but abandoned the case after the lead investigator retired.
Sergison also said that she had tried and failed to get the British foreign office to take an interest in the case.
Lehanne Sergison delivering a petition to former British prime minister David Cameron / Credit: Lehanne Sergison
After contacting Imbayarwo on Facebook, she reached out to the South African police and local civil and firearm rights activist Ian Cameron. Cameron is the community safety director at Action Society.
The plan was to arrest Imbayarwo during a fake date Sergison made with him, but the sting operation using a woman to pose as her wasn’t approved in time.
Imbayarwo broke off contact when Sergison’s alter ego, Missy Falcao, didn’t show.
However, on the anniversary of her aunt’s death in 2020, Sergison published a photo of Imbayarwo that he posted on his birthday. Cameron also shared the photograph widely.
Imbayarwo’s employer saw the post and contacted Cameron and the police six hours later. Police arrested him in Johannesburg that night, the report stated.
According to Netwerk24, Cameron worked with retried investigating officer colonel Gawie Louwrens to follow up on the lead.
Sergison commended the police team initially running the case, saying that the docket was perfectly compiled.
Christine Robinson, for whom justice may finally be served after she was murdered on 30 July 2014
Imbayarwo went on trial this week, where he pleaded not guilty to murder, rape, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and violating the Immigration Act.
His defence argued it was pure coincidence that his DNA was found on Robinson’s body, Netwerk24 reported.
He also testified that the sex was consensual and that he and Robinson regularly slept together.
However, Imbayarwo’s former coworker Hopewell Komo testified he had overheard him telling his girlfriend on the phone, “I killed a white woman.”
Imbayarwo denied the allegation.
Komo said he was driving Imbayarwo to Musina, ostensibly to visit his ailing mother in Zimbabwe.
He said Imbayarwo began acting strangely and started shaking after the phone calls.
Komo testified that Imbayarwo then pulled a knife on him, held it against his stomach, and demanded that he stop the bakkie in Louis Trichardt.
He reported the incident to Louis Trichardt police, who he helped look for Imbayarwo, but they couldn’t find him.
Judge Marisa Naudé-Odendaal dismissed the robbery with aggravating circumstances charge and said she would deliver judgement on the remaining charges on Tuesday, 19 April 2022.
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