26 Feb 2018

Gaborone Broadhurst Magistrate Court has denied bail to a Motswana man and two Zimbabwean men accused of murdering the sister to his wife on September 10, 2015 in Oodi .

The accused, Ernest Legwale of Phapane ward in Mochudi appeared together with Zimbabwean Hamadi Nkhuha of Mmopane Block 1 before chief magistrate, Ms Faith Dlamini-N’gandu facing a single count of murdering Ms Thato Meswele, who was a sister to his wife, Dimpho.

The third suspect in the matter is still on the run.

Briefing the court on why the two men should not be granted bail, more so that they had just been arrested on February 20, 2018, Detective Senior Superintendent Sergeant Marapo said the case had taken the police two years to investigate until recently when they got a tip off and made the arrest.

He said should the accused be granted bail, they were likely to interfer with investigations more so that a host of people were involved in the matter and some of them included traditional doctors and vehicles which were yet to be traced.

It is alleged that on September 10, 2015, Dimpho’s younger sister went outside the house as they were preparing to go to work, but she was accidentally hit by an assailant with a hard object on her heard and sustained a deep wound. She was taken to Princess Marina Hospital where she died four days later.

At the time when the incident happened, Ernest was not present and he has told the police that he had never sent anyone to kill his wife, but had sent the two men to plant a head of a baboon in the yard so that he could reconcile with his wife whom they were going through a process of divorce.

The couple has already divorced.

In the meantime, the second accused, Hamadi has already confessed to the crime and recorded a confession statement before a judicial officer.

During his appearance together with Ernest, he reiterated his position that he had committed the offence, and that the police should be given enough time to investigate more so that some people who were involved in the matter want to distance themselves.

Hamadi, who was speaking in Shona, said he was prepared to assist the police in their investigations.

Although he applied for bail, saying he was a married man with children to support while his co-accused said should the investigations take more than a month, he was likely to lose his job at Lewis where he worked as a divisional internal auditor.   

The prosecutor in the matter, Inspector Kedumetse Shamukuni of Broadhurst Police Station prosecution division, said it was too early to grant the accused bail as more information was needed to be gathered from various parts of the country, a submission which the magistrate concurred with.

They will come for another mention on March 8, 2018.ENDS