04 Jan 2017

Maun police are investigating a case in which a 24-year-old man was stabbed to death by unknown group of men after stealing his cellphone on the night of December 30.

According to Officer Commanding District Number 5, senior superintendent Peter Gochela the accused, who were still at large, were said to have stolen the deceased’s cellphone at the bar and later beat and stabbed him with a sharp instrument.

He appealed to the public to help the police apprehend the accused.

Meanwhile, senior supt Gochela said Maun region was generally calm with only minor offences like theft common reported during the days leading to New Year.

Even in the roads, drivers behaved well as police we recorded only minor accidents with no loss of life, he explained. Also, he said they recorded five cases of drunken driving.

However, senior supt Gochela was worried about the escalating number of suicide in his policing area.

He was worried that 90 percent of the cases involved the youth who committed suicide after misunderstanding with their partners.

In 2015, he said they recorded 12 suicides, while 25 people committed suicide during the just ended year; an increase of more than 100 percent.

He cited Maun as the red zone as most of the suicide occurred in the village.

“We always advise people to seek counselling from community leaders such as Dikgosi and social workers when they have problem, and it seemed the messages were falling on deaf ears as the situation was not improving,” he said.

He further admitted that a host of activities held during the New Year’s Eve stretched their resources, but said they usually formed special tasks to deal with the situation and this had proved to be effective as his region had not received anything major thus far.  ENDS