11 Sep 2017

Gaborone Village principal magistrate, Mr Goodwill Makofi is next week  expected to deliver a ruling on bail application by six men accused of murdering a Sir Seretse Khama Airport off-duty police officer last month.  

Appearing before the court, all the six men demanded that they be granted bail because they were not staying in Block 8, where the incident happened, and that it would be difficult for the aggrieved residents to identify them and retaliate for the death of the officer.

Some said they have nothing to do with the murder as they had never been at the scene on that particular day.

However investigating officer in the matter Mogoditshane CID officer in-charge Assistant Superintendent Tony Kgaogano said it was early to release the men on bail as patrons at Domboshaba Bar had threatened that should the men be given bail, they would teach them a lesson, a threat that he said he could not easily dismiss.

Superintendent Kgaogano said the police were charged with the responsibility to ensure the safety of everyone including the accused, and he could not guarantee that the police would ensure the safety of the six accused person. He therefore urged the court to keep the accused in custody a little longer until tempers subsided.

He said so far the police have recorded statements from state witnesses and have also received a pathology report whilst awaiting a report on some exhibits which have been sent for DNA profiling.

In the dock are Thuto Motseothat, 22, Buru Motseothata, 26, Lore Morentwa, 27, Tsaone Motswetla, 25, Karabo Kowa, 26, and Thato Lesela, 28, who are accused of the murder of 43-year-old police Sergeant from Sir Seretse Khama Airport Police Station on August 11, 2017 at Domboshaba Bar in Block 8, Gaborone.   

Court papers indicate that on August 11, 2017 at Block 8 at Domboshaba Bar, the accused acting together in concert and with a common purpose, armed with knifes and bricks, robbed Sergeant Basimane Binikwa of a silver Huawei cellphone valued at P2 500.

It is alleged that immediately before or after such robbery the accused stabbed Binikwa with a knife. ENDS