05 Jul 2020

Trial of a case in which Ernest Legwale and two others are accused of murder  commences before Justice Michael Leburu of Gaborone High Court today.

The accused persons are said to have on or about September 10, 2015, at or near Oodi in the Kgatleng District, acting jointly and with a common purpose, unlawfully assaulted Ms Thato Meswele thereby inflicting serious injuries on her and she died on September 14, same year.

Legwale, Hamadi Mkhuha and another man still on the run, had reportedly plotted to murder Legwale’s ex-wife (Dimpho Meswele).

However, the hired hitmen accidentally killed Thato, younger sister to Legwale’s wife.

On the morning of the incident, Thato allegedly went outside the house as they were preparing to go to work, but she was hit by an assailant with a hard object on her head and sustained a deep wound.

Since his arraignment, Legwale who was said to have been absent at the scene of the incident, maintained that he had not sent the men to kill his wife, but rather to plant a baboon head in the yard to help him reconcile with his wife.

The second accuse person, Mkhuha, is also facing another charge of unlawfully staying in Botswana.

Particulars of the offence are that between June 11, 2017, and February 20, 2018, at or near Mmopane Block 1 in Kweneng District, Mkhuha being a non-citizen, unlawfully remained in Botswana for a period of 256 days after expiring of his visitor’s permit. Ends