Man found guilty of murdering man in Rossendale

A man has been found guilty of murdering Luke Harden in the Stacksteads area of Rossendale.

A jury at Preston Crown Court found Bhekisani Matabiswana guilty of murdering Luke on 1st November last year, after the judge accepted a majority verdict.

The previous evening Luke and others were booked to DJ at a Halloween fancy dress party at a working men’s club in Huttock End Lane, Stacksteads. Matabiswana and his friends coincidentally attended the same event.

At 11.46pm on October 31st Matabiswana and his associates left the venue via one exit and Luke left via a different exit.

CCTV footage captured the movements of Matabiswana’s group and Luke as they walked through various streets towards Newchurch Road. Matabiswana’s group was ahead of Luke, who was walking alone.

Matabiswana, who was known locally as Nick, and a woman he was with separated from their group on Clough Street at 11.51pm.

It was when they got onto Newchurch Road at 11.58pm that there was an interaction with Luke. A short time later Luke was punched and then either kicked and/or stamped on by Matabiswana while he lay defenceless on the ground. Luke had no defensive wounds on his hands or arms, and there were no marks on his hands to suggest he was the aggressor.

At just after midnight Matabiswana was captured on CCTV, with his female associate appearing to be tugging at him as if he was attempting to leave the scene. It was in the two-minute period before this that Luke was fatally assaulted.

Rather than attempt to help Luke by administering first aid or ringing for an ambulance, Matabiswana used Luke’s phone to call the victim’s friends at 12.03am to state that their friend was on the floor. He also called Luke’s family and told them a similar thing.

At 12.06am, a member of the public, came onto Newchurch Road and saw Luke lying on the pavement and Matabiswana’s female associate kneeling next to him with his head in her hands.

Noticing that Matabiswana was on the phone, he asked the defendant numerous times if he had called for an ambulance but received no reply. The member of the public therefore called for an ambulance himself and administered first aid to an unresponsive Luke, along with Matabiswana’s female associate.

Paramedics arrived just after 12.20am and provided first aid to Luke. They noted he had injuries to his face which were consistent with being the victim of an assault. However, Matabiswana lied to the paramedics, claiming that he had seen Luke fall. He stated Luke had struggled to breathe after falling and that and that he had put him into the recovery position.

At 12.35am police officers on patrol in the area came across paramedics tending to Luke.

Matabiswana told the officers that he had been walking from the working men’s club when he came across Luke lying on the floor. He falsely claimed that he used Luke’s phone to call for an ambulance and that he had also telephoned Rawtenstall A and E.

While Matabiswana’s female associate was talking to the police, the defendant was captured on the officer’s body worn video camera talking to himself. He was heard to say: “We shouldn’t have done this.”

Despite the best efforts of medical personnel, Luke was pronounced deceased at the scene at 1.17am.

Luke suffered swelling to the brain and back of the head; extensive facial bruising with cuts to the left lower eyelid and to the lips; patterned bruising to the left cheek; fractures to his nose, jaw and larynx; and bruising to the neck, arms and shoulder.

It was later established that he died as a result of blunt force trauma to head and neck following an assault.

Shortly before 2am Matabiswana and his female associate were arrested on suspicion of Luke’s murder and taken into custody.

When Matabiswana arrived at custody, it was noted that he had grazing on his left-hand knuckles and swelling around the ring finger of his right hand which caused him pain when touched. He later claimed in his police interview that the injuries to his hands were old and did not cause him any pain.

On 2nd November Matabiswana and his female associate were released under investigation whilst our enquiries continued.

The following day, and having been tracked by the authorities, Matabiswana was arrested at Manchester Airport trying to board a flight to South Africa.

In his subsequent police interview, Matabiswana accepted that he had struck Luke but claimed it was in self-defence as he had been punched first. He denied using his feet to assault Luke.

Following his arrest, Matabiswana’s mobile phone was seized and examined by experts. In text messages recovered from Matabiswana’s phone, he gave another conflicting account about the circumstances which led to the altercation with Luke to the two he had given to the police. He also sent numerous messages about how he intended to flee the country, and that he needed money and the use of a third-party email address to book a flight so the authorities couldn’t thwart his escape plan.

Following consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, Matabiswana, 27, of St James Street, Bacup, was charged with murder.

Matabiswana will be sentenced at the same court on Monday

DI Pete MacDonald, from the Force Major Investigation Team, said: “Following a brief encounter with his victim, Matabiswana engaged in a frenzied and cowardly attack – continuing to attack Luke whilst he lay defenceless on the floor.

“He then made no effort to help Luke, instead choosing to contact him family and friends in a sordid and sinister bid to paint himself as the Good Samaritan who had simply come across an injured man on the pavement. He continued these callous lies to Luke’s distressed friends and family, as their loved one lay dying on the ground yards away from them.

“Throughout this case. Matabiswana has shown no remorse, making several efforts to evade justice. Firstly, by attempting to leave the scene before police arrived – later being heard to say ‘we shouldn’t have done this’. And then secondly by booking a flight to Johannesburg. Thankfully he never made that flight.

“Thankfully a jury had today held Matabiswana accountable for his actions by finding him guilty of Luke’s murder. I would like to thank them for their considered verdicts.

“I would also like to thank our Counsel, the CPS and all those officers and police staff who have worked around the clock to ensure Luke’s loved ones got the justice they understandably craved.”