21 Aug 2017

Extension II Magistrate, Ms Ntombizodwa Ncube has denied Kediemetse Mogotsi bail pending trial in a case where he is accused of murdering his former girlfriend in Tlokweng on July 03, 2017. 

Delivering the ruling last Thursday, magistrate Ncube said she had taken into consideration arguments and supporting aspects brought before court by the prosecution, through investigating officer inspector Rapelang Gaolekwe.

The inspector had adamantly stated that the accused be denied bail as he was capable of committing a similar crime. 

Inspector Gaolekwe had a fortnight ago told the court that the accused had another murder case pending before the High Court in Lobatse and had failed to abide by his bail condition, which among others ordered him to report to Tlokweng Police Station every Monday while he also failed to surrender his passport. 

He said the accused’s passport was discovered in Goo-Kodisa while the police were on his trail after murdering his latest victim and as he could be a danger to the society if he was released to await his trial outside prison. 

Magistrate Ncube further said she had observed through Mr Gaolekwe that when the accused was finally arrested in the early hours at Banyana Farms in Barolong, the accused was uncooperative and tried to stab one of the police officers with the knife he was holding. 

She said though the accused in response said he never attempted to stab anyone as the knife was in his pocket he failed to tell the court how the police came to know about. 

Mogotsi is alleged to have strangled his girlfriend Maria Losolebe on July 03, 2017 at their rented house shortly after she arrived home from a spent away night. He is said to have sole-handedly buried her in a grave which they had dug together the previous day in an adjacent house. 

He had told the police that he waited for dusk to set before burying her and sealed the grave with concrete. His next mention will be on August 31, 2017. Assistant superintendent Tlotlang Balatlhwa of Botswana Police Prosecution Unit prosecutes.ENDS