04 Dec 2013

The month of December could not have started any worse for residents of Salajwe in the Letlhakeng Sub-district when two tragic incidents occurred the same day in the small village.

In the first incident, Takatokwane police station commander, Supt Ocean Maraganyane, said they were investigating a case in which a 30-year old man shot to death his 18-year old girlfriend at a wedding on Sunday.

Supt Maraganyane said the man had allegedly suspected that the woman was double-crossing him and then called her to the sidelines during the wedding proceedings. He said because the woman was aware of the conflict between them, she took a precautionary measure and came along with her friend.

Supt Maraganyane said the man then requested the friend to give them privacy and she refused, whereupon the man produced a small gun from his pocket and shot the woman beneath the left breast before finishing her off with the second bullet on the head.

He said the man then took off in his car and travelled about five kilometres outside the village where he abandoned the car and shot himself in a nearby bush. Supt Maraganyane said the body of the man was discovered the following day by the police with the assistance of members of the public.

The two originated from Takatokwane and had gone to Salajwe to attend a wedding in which the woman was one of the bridesmaids. Their bodies are lying at the Scottish Livingstone Hospital in Molepolole awaiting post-mortems.

In another incident, Salajwe was ravaged by heavy rains that lasted about two hours, leaving a trail of destruction. Salajwe social worker, Ms Mothusi Pule, said in an interview that assessments were ongoing to determine the extent of damage, adding that it was evident that most of the affected people would need relief tents. Officers of the district administration in Letlhakeng also visited Salajwe to assess the extent of destruction. ENDS