19 Mar 2018

 The accused in the murder and rape of a nine-year-old former Thebe Primary School pupil in Gaborone has informed the Gaborone Extension II Magistrate’s Court that time for him to be granted bail is ripe.

Appearing for regular mention recently, Aplee Moagi, who is due for psychiatrist assessment, said he had been in custody for some time and believed he should apply for bail to wait trial outside custody. He said since it would be not safe to openly disclose the place where he would stay should he be granted bail, he would inform the prosecutor.

Moagi further told the court that he was prepared to abide by all bail conditions including reporting to the nearest police station as well as to assist the police with whatever information they may want from him while out on bail.

Meanwhile, prosecutor Assistant Superintendent Tlotlang Balatlhwa from Broadhurst Police Station Prosecution Unit told the court that investigations in the matter were complete and they were yet to submit the docket to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Since the court briefly adjourned to afford the accused to inform the prosecutor of the possible places where he could reside if granted bail, Assistant Superintendent Balatlhwa confirmed to the court that the accused had suggested some places where he could possibly reside.

He however noted that he would first have to notify the investigating officer so that he could visit such homesteads and meet with owners to engage them on whether they would accommodate him. In the previous mention, the investigating officer detective Assistant Superintendent Madziba Duna of Urban Police Station in Bontleng informed Magistrate Ms Batho Kgerethwa that Moagi wrote his mother a letter from prison threatening his former girlfriend with murder, a sign which he said showed that he was an angry man with intention to kill.

Assistant Superintendent Duna said the four-page letter, which he read it in part, was written in clear terms that the accused was on the move to kill his former lover who resides in Ntlhantlhe because he had indicated in the letter that he had instead killed a different person though he had very much wanted to kill her.

Following this development, he requested that he be subjected to psychiatrist evaluation and be further detained.    Since the accused in a previous sitting had informed the court that should he be granted bail he will reside at his grandmother’s house in Mochudi, ASP Duna said he took a trip to Mochudi where he met his 80-year-old grandmother who said she was fearful of accommodating the accused moreso that she stayed alone hence members of the public may attack her if they come to know that she was housing the accused.

The detective also visited the accused’s mother in Gaborone who also was reluctant to accommodate Moagi on the same argument that she feared she may be mobbed and fatally assaulted by angry members of the society as the matter is serious.   Moagi’s victim was found lying dead at White City location and preliminary police investigations revealed that she was raped before being killed. Her mother had left her and her younger sibling alone at night and the accused took advantage of that scenario.His next mention is March 29. ENDS