21 Aug 2025

A lawyer representing, Bantshuti Nkgarapi, who is charged with murdering a University of Botswana employee in June, Mr Tiroyaone Sedimo has accused the state of using tactics to prolong his client’s remand.

He made the accusations when appearing before Chief Magistrate Chief Ms Kamogelo Mmesi of Extension II Magistrate Court recently.

“The contentious conduct of the state is deliberate and purposeful to ensure the accused is remanded in custody,” Mr Sedimo said.

“It is a covert approach to perpetuate the remand of the accused,” he argued in court after the state indicated that the accused had not undergone psychiatric assessment as ordered by the court during the last sitting.

The state counsel, Mr Michael Mookantsa, had informed court that the accused was booked for assessment on August 21, hence he had not been assessed had the court had ordered. However, Mr Sedimo expressed apprehension about the state’s statement, arguing that the state was in contempt of the court order. He said the accused was rushed to Sbrana Psychiatric Hospital the previous week after he inquired about when he would be taken for assessment as per the court order.

“The doctors, I am told, made it clear that the assessment cannot be taken hastily; it takes a minimum of a week,” he said.

He added that the state should be cautioned for delaying in presenting his client for assessment as per the court order. Additionally, Mr Sedimo requested court to grant the accused’s family access to the farm in Mokatse, where he kept his livestock. He said the farm was co-owned by the deceased and the accused, and the deceased’s family had been denying the accused’s family access to the farm to provide care for the livestock.

However, the Magistrate advised the attorney to make a miscellaneous application to offer the deceased’s family an opportunity to respond. Nkgarapi is alleged to have murdered one Bogadi Mokganelwa at the University of Botswana, where she was employed, by stabbing him with a sharp instrument. He is set to appear for status hearing on  September 3. ENDS