25 Jan 2018

The third accused in the ongoing Gaborone North Farms murder case, Gorata Humble Sebego (33) has told Gaborone High Court that the DELL laptop that he handed to the Security Systems officers belongs to him and is not proceeds of crime as alleged by the state.

Giving evidence at the ongoing trial before Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo on Monday, Sebego said though he has never informed his attorney Mr Maswabi Mwando Maswabi that he bought the DELL laptop, he had informed security officers who confiscated it that he bought it from the streets.

He also told the court under cross examination from state prosecutor Mr Farayi Mahwite that the police did not want to listen to him, that he bought the laptop from a certain Zimbabwean man only known as Sam in a barber shop at Broadhurst market on August 28, 2013.

Giving evidence in chief, Sebego said on the day in question he left Oodi at around 11a.m. and headed to his music studio, which he co-owns with a certain Karabo Leburu in Broadhurst, but since he was not in a hurry when he arrived at BBS taxi rank he went to a nearby barber shop to make a haircut.

While still there, the court heard, a certain Zimbabwean man arrived with a DELL laptop in a laptop bag and offered to sell it to him at a price of P800.

However, he said he could not resist the offer, bargained and got it for P500, where he immediately paid for it without taking any receipt or details of the seller, whom (seller) he said he said could be traced around the area in case something crops up or was needed.   

With regard to the P8 000 and P4 200, which was recovered from him by the police, he said the P8 000 was his savings from selling metal scraps, hot dogs and proceeds from music studio. He said he did not keep the money in a bank because he does not have a bank account.

With regard to the P4 200 that was retrieved from the wardrobe stashed in a sock, he said the money was a saving that he raised together with his fiancé intended to throw a birthday party for their baby.

Asked why he did not subpoena any of his associates who knows about his finances to come and explain to court how he associates with these large amounts of money, he said one of the people (Tshepiso Sekati) told him that he was scared of the court while the other (Karabo Leburu) said he would not be available.

Sebego, who was at pains explaining to the court how he could buy a second hand laptop from a stranger while he had a lot of money at his house, said he does not mind his fiancé being called to testify, a development which has been overtaken by events.

The state prosecutor, Mr Mahwite in the meantime put it to Sebego that he was fabricating information and intentionally misleading the court though he knows that he voluntarily handed the laptop and the money, which are proceeds of crime from Tuwana Construction camp site.

Mr Mahwite further said it was surprising that Sebego told the court that he left home for Gaborone at around 11am while his father had previously testified that Sebego left the homestead late in the day, but his testimony was never challenged by his attorney nor did he made any attempt to advice his attorney on this aspect.

He therefore said it was clear that Sebego was hiding crucial information from the court, a development which he said was not doing any good for him. Sebego on the other hand said he has never gone to Gaborone North

Farms when he left the studio at around 7pm, but went straight home and arrived at around 9pm.      Standing trial are; Lebang Thabo Ntesi, Phemelo Tshelang, Gorata Humble Sebego, Patrick Gaile and Mpho Mangwa. All the accused are on bail but Ntesi and Mangwa.

According to the particulars of the offence, the five men who are all residents of Oodi in Kgatleng District, on the night of August 28, 2013 at Gaborone North Farms acting together with a common purpose murdered night watchman, Olebogile Ramapulane, who was guarding at Tuwana construction site camp.

In the course of robbery they stole items such as cellphones, a Chinese identity card, a laptop, a laptop charger and a diary. All items were admitted before court as part of evidence.

They were initially charged for attempted murder on Mr Liu Jian Hui. During attempt on his life, Hui was gravely injured and got admitted at Princess Marina Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. He has however left the country, thus the charge has fallen.

The accused are therefore now facing only two counts and on the first count the five are charged for armed robbery as the sum of P20 000, a computer lap top, a navy blue blazer and a cellphone were stolen during the commission of the crime. They pleaded not guilty to both counts of robbery and murder. Trial continues with Patrick Gaile giving sworn evidence led by AttorneyEddie Babuseng. Ends