Newly released video shows a clown-costumed killer who brutally beat a male model to death in the street lying to cops and claiming he’d innocently stumbled across the bludgeoned body in the street.
The footage of Bhekisani Matabiswana, 26, acting innocent was released after he was sentenced in the UK Monday to life in prison for the “cowardly” murder of much-loved model Luke Harden.
“The man in the video is a murderer, a liar and a coward,” Lancashire Police captioned the footage of the killer at the scene.
It shows him still in a cartoonish spotty tie and makeup he’d worn to be a clown at a Halloween party last year also attended by Harden, although neither knew each other.
Matabiswana repeatedly told officers that he came across Harden’s body while waiting for a taxi — when he had actually kicked and punched him so savagely it was impossible to determine which of the severe injuries was the one to kill him.
“He was on the floor,” Matabiswana said, slurring and stumbling over his words.
Matabiswana, from Zimbabwe, tried to claim he had no involvement in the killing — even though there was blood on the sleeves of his white shirt.
In fact, he stomped and punched Harden in a “frenzied and cowardly attack” that the male model had no chance of defending himself against, Lancashire Police pointed out.
Later footage showed the callous killer looking confused during an interrogation about why he had not tried to help Harden.
“He didn’t attempt CPR, he didn’t phone for an ambulance, and when the emergency services did arrive, he lied about the circumstances which led to Luke being fatally injured,” the police department said.
Then, he tried to escape justice by trying to flee the UK before being nabbed at Manchester airport two days later.
“Matabiswana has shown no remorse whatsoever for his actions and has made several efforts to evade justice, including by trying to flee the country,” Detective Inspector Pete MacDonald said.
Harden suffered catastrophic brain injuries, with a swollen skull, extensive facial bruising, fractured nose and jaw — injuries so extensive, it has been impossible to work out exactly which wound killed him, jurors were told.
His death “completely changed” his family’s life, Harden’s dad, Gary, said in a victim statement.
“The pain of losing Luke in such a violent and senseless way, is something we carry every single day,” he said. “There is a constant emptiness that cannot be filled.”
The model’s mom, Katie McGovern, echoed those words said their life of happiness has been “overtaken with fear, stress, worry and pain in order for us to just survive.”
“We no longer can be normal, we are now living in a new reality that does not feel real and we will never be the same people we were before the 1st November,” she said.
Matabiswana will have to serve 16.5 years in prison before being eligible for parole.
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