20 Sep 2017

A man who was recently arrested for the murder of his girlfriend has told Extension II Magistrate Court that he needs to be granted bail so that he could fend for his standard One school going child.

In his bail application before magistrate, Ms Batho Kgeretlhwa, who was holding fort for the substantive magistrate, Kediemetse Mogotsi said his child who stays with his mother at Goo-Kodisa near Moshupa is now without transport and money for lunch pack which he provided for before he was arrested.

He noted that since the mother of the child was also not working, it was difficult for the child to be transported to school as there was no money to pay for the taxi fare, which he used to pay without failure while he was outside custody.

“The problem is compounded by the fact that neither my parents nor the parents of the child’s mother are working and this situation can only be solved if I could be granted bail more especially that I have not applied for when I was first arraigned,” he said.

Another thorny problem, Mogotsi said was that his other child from a different mother should be registered for pre-primary this year so that he could start his standard one next year and therefore needed his assistance regarding school provisions.    

However, the prosecutor assistant superintendent Tlotlang Balatlhwa from Broadhurst Prosecutions Unit said the issue of bail has already been dealt with by magistrate Ntombizodwa Ncube who in her ruling advised the accused to appeal to the High Court if he so wished.   

For her part, magistrate Kgeretlhwa said it was apparent that the issue of bail has been dealt with and urged the accused to take the advice he was given by the court when bail ruling was handed.

She also noted that though he did not apply for bail when he first appeared, it was the duty of the prosecutor to inform the court of his position regarding the granting of bail to the accused, hence he was denied bail and the position has not changed.

Mogotsi is alleged to have strangled his girlfriend Maria Losolebe on July 3, 2017 at their rented house shortly after she arrived home from a spent away night and sole-handedly buried her in a grave which they had dug together the previous day in an adjacent house.

He will appear for mention on September 28, 2017. BOPA