07 Oct 2013

Rape cases continue to rise despite efforts made by police to encourage people to walk with others at night or get taxis, says Maun police’s Criminal Investigations Department’s (CID) Assistant Superintendent Motlapele Maropamabe.

Speaking in an interview, Ass Supt Maropamabe said for the month of September, they recorded 10 cases while in the previous month they recorded seven. “This is worrisome as most of the incidents take place during the night at drinking sprees and most people involved are ex-lovers,” he said.

Recently, he said, the police managed to arrest a 32-year-old man who raped a 42-year-old woman of Matshwane ward near Andrew Wellio Primary School. Ass Supt Maropamabe said the woman is a chairperson of a certain Village Development Committee (VDC) in Maun and was from home to work.

The suspect, he said, appeared from nowhere, attacked the woman, twisted her hand and pulled her into the bush and raped her. Ass Supt Maropamabe said the victim reported the matter to the police, who traced the suspect’s footsteps and caught him at Samedupi settlement.

The suspect is in custody and would soon appear before the magistrate. Meanwhile, five boys were being questioned with regards to the incident in which body parts of a dog were strewn across seven classes in Maun Senior Secondary School. He said one was brought by his parent who reported that his son might have been involved as they had a dog at home similar to the one that was killed.

Ass Supt Maropamabe said the parent indicated that the dog had disappeared since the incident, noting that the boy’s uncle also stated that he found the ears of the killed dog at home but the suspect denied being linked to the incident. He said police investigations were continuing and if the suspects could be charged for common nuisance.

Meanwhile, Detective Assistant Superintendent Idani Gaseitsiwe from the Department of Nicotine, Founa and Flora Investigation confirmed that a courier vehicle was caught at Makalamabedi gate last week carrying 18 elephant trophies.

He said the vehicle was from Okavango heading to Nata/Francistown and they managed to arrest five suspects at midnight of which four were Batswana and one Zambian through intelligence at different areas ranging from Gumare, Maun and Makalamabedi.

Detective Ass Supt Gaseitsiwe said the suspects appeared before the magistrate and Batswana were on bail while the Zambian was in custody until October 11 where all would appear again. Maun station commander, Superintendent Kenanao Badumetse stated that police officers at Maun were doing thorough searches at the gate.

He said all vehicles including courier ones were searched but noted that it was not easy to see what was inside because parcels were sealed. Ass Supt Badumetse said a week before Independence, 456 vehicles coming in and out passed through the gate while 2 773 people used the gate. ENDS