23 May 2024

Murder accused, Jabulani Dube has denied ever threatening to kill former Kgatleng East Legislator, the late Mr Isaac Davids for failing to pay a debt emanating from accrued unpaid wages.

Instead, Dube, told  Gaborone High Court, the late Mr  Davids was the one who threatened to kill him whenever he enquired about the debt.

Responding to questions under cross examination by the prosecutor, Mr Pascal Mhandu on Wednesday, Dube said his evidence was focused on what happened on the day in question and was not interested on whether it made sense or not.

The duo of Dube, a Zimbabwe national and Mokgalemi Maleya are accused of murdering Mr Davids at Sorilatholo on January 14, 2018.

Giving his evidence in chief at the opening of the defence case, Dube (38) revealed that his employment under the Mr Davids as a herdsman and a builder dated back to 2008.

Dube said even though he was based at the deceased’ farm in Artesia and also engaged as a builder for his employer’s projects in Mochudi, he was at the time of the incident deployed to lend a hand at Mr Davids’ other cattle post at Lematswe, some 50km from Sorilatholo in Letlhakeng District.

He said on January 13, 2008 he left for Sorilatholo to seek medical attention. Dube said on the morning of January 14, he called Mr Davids telling him that he was in Sorilatholo and had spotted some of his stray cattle in the vicinity of the village (Sorilatholo).

Dube said since Mr Davids had stated that he was planning a trip to Lematswe cattle post, as he wanted to select cattle to sell, he advised him to call Maleya to bring two horses to Sorilatholo that would be used to drive the said cattle back to Lematswe.

He told the court that while waiting for the cattle to arrive at the drinking spot where they had been spotted, they passed time at Neo’s shebeen drinking traditional brew, khadi.

“Mr Davids found us at the shebeen. He did not even enquire about the cattle, nor greet anyone,” he said.

He said upon arrival, Mr Davids did shouted out Maleya’s name as he went past to grab a pole from the fireplace.

He said the late Mr Davids, who was accompanied by one Ramonti Sekwati used the log to assault Maleya to a state where he was unconscious and while shouting at him asking why he was abusing his horses by using them in their alcohol drinking spree.

“I tried to stop him from assaulting Maleyai as I feared he would kill him and he started assaulting me with the same log,” he said.

Dube said at one point he was in a scuffle with the deceased, with both grabbing the log to an extent that it broke into two.

He recollected the deceased holding him by the neck and choking him.

Dube said while gasping for air, the deceased ordered his companion (Sekwati) to bring a gun from his car.

He said, “get me a gun from the car so that I can finish off these dogs while they are still dizzy.”

He said scared  that Mr Davids would shoot them, Maleya stabbed the deceased on the back while he (Dube) also drew his knife and stabbed him on the thighs.

“I also knocked him on the forehead with the back of the knife and scratched him twice on the head with the knife. He fell to the ground as he was dizzy, from losing a lot of blood from the stab wounds while grabbing me by the leg and choking me,” said Dube.

At that point Dube said, Sekwati sped off with the deceased’s car and reported the incident to the police.

“When the police arrived, I was seated next to Mr Davids who was lying down on the ground. I assisted the police with loading him into his van, which was used to transport him to the health facility. I handed over the knife to the police officer, Mr Sam,” he said.

Dube said he used the knife to stab the deceased in an effort to stop him from getting the gun from Sekwati.

“I was afraid that if he was to get hold of the gun he was going to use it to kill us,” he said.

He recalled an incident in 2008, when the deceased shot one of his herd boys with a shotgun.

Dube said in 2013 he decided to quit his employ with the late Davies for fear of his life, as he was always threatened with being shot to death whenever he inquired about his outstanding wages.

While employed by one farmer (Mr Madzila) in Molepolole, Dube said the deceased came after him, forcing him to return to his farm.

“He even threatened to kill my new employer. I went back and worked for him as I was taken back by force from Mr Madzila,” he said.

He said in 2017, he reported an incident to Letlhakeng police where Mr Davids threatened to kill him as he was asking for his salary arrears.

The case is before Justice Michael Leburu at the Gaborone High Court. Maleya is represented by Mr Opeyemi Ajayi while Dube is represented by Mr Bathusi Brown. ENDS