06 Jun 2023

Kang Magistrate’s Court has remanded in custody three men who are facing a single count of robbery.

The facts of the case are that the trio, Beleme Motlhabani (43) of Extension 1 in Palapye, Gaonyadiwe Mmatli (52) of Maipei ward in Mogoditshane and Morgan Kemsely (33) of Madiba ward in Palapye – and another one not in court on May 28 at Gamonyemane ward in Kang at Choppies Supermarket acted jointly in concert and with common purpose armed with guns used violence on employees of the mentioned store.

They are alleged to have stolen a white Toyota Hilux van bearing the registration number B262 BBN, which is valued at P74 600, and cash amounting to P259 317.85. Applying for remand of the three men, Sub-Inspector Bathobatsile Gaborekwe of the Botswana Police said investigations had just commenced as the trio were arrested on May 30 and the fourth person is still at large. Gaborekwe informed the court that the investigation team has managed to recover the van and cash amounting to P103 876.25 while P155  441.60 is still missing.

He pleaded with the court to remand the accused for 14 days, pointing out that if they were to be granted bail, they would likely meet with the fourth person and other state witnesses, and thus interfere with investigations.

One of the accused men, Motlhabani, asked that the matter be withdrawn until completion of police investigations. He said since he does not know the state witnesses, there is no how he can interfere with them.

Mmatli told the court that upon arrest, he was told that someone had mentioned his name as one of the people involved in the robbery, whereas he had not visited Kang on the day the robbery occurred. He pleaded with the prosecutor to convene a meeting between him and the person who had identified him as one of the alleged robbers.

The third accused person, Kemsely, asked that instead of 14 days, the court should consider imposing a shorter remand period of seven days or release them on bail under strict conditions.

Magistrate Ike Raphael said in consideration that investigations into the matter had just started, the fourth suspect is still at large, and the prosecutor had expressed concern that the trio could flee if granted bail, the court had decided to remand them in police custody for 14 days to allow the investigation team to complete its work. The men will appear again for mention on June 16.  ENDS