06 Apr 2014

Francistown principal magistrate, Mr Thebeetsile Mulalu has set April 17 as the date for the continuation of a trial in which a 34-year-old Zimbabwean, Mgcini Ncube, is facing charges of arson that took place in the Sebina area last year.

It is expected that the state will call four more witnesses to testify on the matter. So far five witnesses have testified in the matter.

Giving sworn evidence last week, one of the witnesses, Ms Mmanthu Mpalawani, who is one of the victims said in the early hours of 9 August last year, she woke up to find her hut on fire.

She said she called for help and a rescue team that included her son, Enock Dambe, who found a shoe print near the burning hut.

She further said five pots, seven plates, two okapi knives and five plastic containers which were in the house were destroyed during the inferno.

Ms Mpalawani also told the court that the police informed her the same day that the suspected arsonist was arrested, but she never knew who the person was.

Another victim, Ms Lungisani Mpilo, who also testified, told the court that while she was in Francistown, she received a phone call informing her that her hut had been burnt.

Ms Mpilo said upon arrival she found a lot of people including the police in her yard. She further said, apart from the hut, nothing was destroyed during the inferno.

Detective Constable Wazha Morobisi, who is based at Francistown Police Station, said last year in April he was assigned to assist in arresting suspects of arson cases in Sebina.

He said on August 9 last year they responded to an arson report near Sebina Cross where a mud hut was burning and they realised there was a shoe print a metre away from the yard’s fence.

He said they tracked down the shoe print in the direction of Mafa lands and on reaching the lands they found that another mud hut belonging to a certain Lungisani Mpilo, who was not around then, had been burnt to ashes.

At the scene, he said they also spotted the same shoe print which led them to Marobela, before heading towards another field where they arrested the accused and two others believed to be the couple that was later acquitted.

Consequently, he explained that the other man who was arrested identified himself as Themba Chuma and the woman, Ndigohle Moyo.

He said on inquiring about the shoe print the suspect pointed out that it was his and said he was not putting on the shoes as they were under tree branches.

Detective Morobisi said they handcuffed both Ncube and Chuma while Moyo was sent to retrieve the shoes.

Responding to the witness statement, Ncube said that the shoes did not belong to him but to Chuma and were given to him by his boss.

Another witness, Mr Molefe Mogorosi, said on the same night of the arson he was in Sebina and he received a call from Ms Mpalawani informing him that one of her houses was burning at Thamagana lands near Sebina.

He said he went to report the matter to the police who accompanied him to the scene and on arrival they found the hut near the fence on fire.

Mr Mogorosi said near the fence was a shoe print which they tracked down to Mafa lands where they found another house down in ashes.

He said while they were busy searching around Nyamambisi River they received a call from the other crew who informed them that they had arrested the suspect in the field.

Constable Baraedi MacDonald, a police officer at Tatitown, who is a crime scene investigator said he was assigned to attend a series of arson cases at Sebina Cross and first attended a house belonging to Mpalawani which had been burnt.

He said according to the examination the fire was set from outside the yard as the house was close to the fence.

Constable MacDonald said upon searching the crime scene the only suspicious thing was the shoe print which was also a few meters from the fence.

He noted that they proceeded to the second crime scene where they found another mud hut on ashes and according to the examinations it was burnt from inside the yard.

He highlighted that the same shoe print that was suspected to have caused the fire at the first crime scene was found to have entered the yard from behind the burnt hurt and exited on the other side.

Initially, the trial was scheduled to run until April 4 but the state counsel, Mr Thapelo Mafishane informed the court that two witnesses could not be located in Zimbabwe while the other one was admitted in hospital. ENDS