29 Mar 2017

 A 54-year-old woman was bitten to death by a snake suspected to be a black mamba recently when harvesting phane.
In an interview on Tuesday, Superintendent Onneetse Gagogosha of Baines Drift Police Station in the Bobirwa Sub-district said the incident happened at Mohawaneng cattle post in Tsetsebye and that the deceased originated from Borotsi ward in Topisi.
He stated that on the day, the police received a report that a woman was bitten by a snake and rushed to Bobonong Primary Hospital, where she was certified dead.
He said the snake, suspected to be a black mamba, was found at the scene, but later escaped into the bush.
The station commander expressed concern that phane harvesters had swarmed Tsetsebye, Mathathane and their catchment areas from far places and have made temporary shelters in the bush, thus inviting risks such as getting lost, bitten by snakes and contacting malaria.
He however said the harvesters had duly acquired permits from the Department of Forestry and Range Resources to harvest the worm.
On other issues, the station commander stated that the police were concerned by murder/suicide cases that happen in Moletemane.
He explained that last year February, police recorded three murder cases in Moletemane and this year during the same month they recorded a murder/suicide at the same village.
Supt Gagogosha said on February 27 they received a report where a 39-year-old woman was discovered unconscious inside her house and later certified dead by Bobonong Primary Hospital, while in the other house a 37-year-old man was discovered hanging from rafters, which incident was suspected to be a suicide.
The two deceased persons, he said were lovers and the man had been granted bail by the High Court for another murder he allergedly committed in Selebi Phikwe in 2013.
In Mathathane, Supt Gagogosha said they had arrested two men, both aged 34 for the murder of a 62-year-old man of the same village.
He said on March 9, the deceased was alleged to have went out at night to buy cigarettes, but on the way he was assaulted by the unknown assailants, but the police received a report on March 11 after the victim died while at Bobonong Primary Hospital and their investigation led to the arrests of the two.
The accused appeared at the Bobonong Magistrate Court to face a murder change on Tuesday.
Still in Mathathane, Supt Gagogosha stated that a 28-year-old man of the same village had been charged for arson after allegedly torching her former girlfriend’s rented room on March 24 while she was at a bar. ENDS