01 Mar 2018

The much anticipated committal of Tlokweng double murder accused, Kediemetse Mogotsi to the High Court, which was supposed to take place Tuesday, has left many people including the accused frustrated as it failed to go.

Gaborone Extension II Magistrate Court was full beyond capacity as many had come with the hopes that they would hear a pronouncement that Mogotsi was being committed as promised in the past.

A fortnight ago, Gaborone Extension II principal magistrate, Ms Batho Kgerethwa was informed by the prosecution that preparations on the committal papers were ongoing, and that the committal was likely to take effect during that court sitting.

However, when the matter was called, the substantive prosecutor from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mr Thankane Lepekoane informed the court that he had been working on the assessment of evidence and was currently working on the committal papers, saying they would be ready by the end of the month.

In this regard, Mogotsi’s remand has been extended to March 12, and the accused told the court that he had nothing to say when he was asked whether he had something to say before court.

Mogotsi, who is also facing another murder charge for allegedly killing his father in 2012, was alleged to have strangled his girlfriend, Maria Losolebe on July 3, 2017 at their rented house it Tlokweng.

The incident happened shortly after she arrived home from a night out, and he single-handedly buried her in a grave which they had dug together the previous day in an adjacent house.

He told the police that he waited for dusk to set before burying her, and that he sealed the grave with concrete.

Mogotsi has since been in custody as the court refused to grant him bail on several occasions, but advised him to apply to the High Court.

In one of the his appearances last year, he had told the court that his child who stayed with his mother at Goo-Kodisa near Moshupa was now without transport and money for her lunch pack which he had provided before he was arrested.

He said 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 fail 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 issue, Mogotsi had said at the time, 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.ENDS