18 Jun 2017

Four suspects who are accused of burning a woman and her four children in a house appeared before Kasane Magistrate Court for mention on Thursday.

The suspects, 42-year-old Banoziba Dambe, 30-year-old Tiny Dambe, Lesedi Khundu and 32-year-old Gaone Matebele are alleged to have burnt a house at Kazungula Newstance, which resulted in the death of one person while four others have been hospitalised at Kasane primary and Nyangabwe referral hospitals with injuries.  

The accused, who are not in denial of setting the house on fire and have admitted to injuring and killing the victim, are facing one count of murder and four of attempted murder.

They appeared before Magistrate Mpho Molema and agreed to have understood the charges laid against them.

One of the defendants, Dambe requested the magistrate to release the other three accused persons as he said he committed the crime alone.

Another defendant, Matebele said they were tricked into burning the house as Dambe had told them that the house belonged to him and there was no one inside.

“Banoziba Dambe had told us that we should burn the house so that they can be able to receive cover from the insurance company and be able to hire us to build a bigger house for them,” Matebele told the court.

Magistrate Molema said investigations on the case were still at the initial stage and statements needed to be recorded.

From the four children who are hospitalised, three are reported to be stable and one, an eight-year-old is said to be fighting for his life at Nyangabwe.

The accused are to appear again in court on June 29. BOPA