26 May 2026

The trial of Zimbabwean national Lovemore Sithole started in Gaborone with a dispute over whether the confession he gave to police was voluntary or forced.

Before the court could weigh the evidence in the killing of his girlfriend’s 7-year-old son, Justice Matlhogonolo Phuthego had to hear a separate trial-within-a-trial which has been scheduled to continue in June.

On one side, the state is adamant that Sithole confessed voluntarily, while on the other, he claims he was beaten and told what to say.

Before a full courtroom, Sithole remained focused stating that he was not the last person with Tlotso Karema.

At the time of Tlotso’s disappearance, the mother was expecting Sithole’s child.

During a trial-within-a-trial to determine the admissibility of a confession, Detective Assistant Superintendent Tiroyaone Gosibotsile told the court that Sithole voluntarily told police he killed the boy using a traditional healer’s needle known as machonyonyo.

Gosibotsile said the needle was believed to have special powers that caused it to disappear immediately after the incident, which is why it was never recovered.

The officer testified that Sithole led police to the location of the boy’s remains.

He also showed them where he bathed in water mixed with the boy’s blood, where he destroyed the bucket used for the bath and where put on his clothes while still wet from the bathing.

Sithole volunteered to direct officers to the boys remains site and to Kanye, where the clothes he wore after bathing were recovered and sent for DNA analysis and no linkage was established from the analysis.

Before leading police to these locations, Sithole was taken to a magistrate to record a confession statement.

Detective Assistant Superintendent Gosibotsile said the statement was given voluntarily, without force or coercion.

The magistrate who recorded the confession, Mr Gofaone Morweng, testified that Sithole appeared in his office on 6 July 2022, accompanied by a female police officer.

He said Sithole chose to give his confession in Setswana and spoke fluently, adding that he appeared calm, asked for a facemask, and showed no signs of injury or distress.

“He was conversant in Setswana and I had no doubt that he understood the language,” the magistrate said, adding that Setswana was Sithole’s choice of language, noting that a translator would have been solicited had he asked for one.

He said Sithole did not allege that he had been assaulted or induced to confess when asked.

The confession was taken in the presence of a court bench clerk, who translated from Setswana to English, and the magistrate wrote the English version while the clerk wrote the Setswana version.

Both statements were read back to Sithole, who confirmed they matched and accepted them as accurate.

Both versions were admitted into evidence without objection.

Testifying in chief, Sithole said he had made a statement at Sejelo Police Station in which he did not incriminate himself and was later transported to Lobatse Police at night.

He was beaten, stripped naked, made to wear refuse plastic bags as a trouser, top and another covered his head and forced to confess.

The police, he said, told him what to say and recorded that version in a statement, adding that he was then taken to the magistrate to repeat it.

“Why did you not tell him (Magistrate), if your claim is true?” State prosecutor Mr Ambrose Mubika asked, to which Sithole said the police told him the magistrate was a good man well known to them, and he knew that after the recording he was going back to the police who assaulted him.

Sithole also said on one occasion, Kesegofetse Karema and Kesaobaka Karema were called to the police station and he was forced to confess to the crime in front of them.

He said on August 30 and 31, he was taken to the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services (DISS), where he made another statement that did not implicate him.

At DISS, he told the court he called for Kesegofetse, and in front of them, identified the person he said was last seen with Tlotso and maintained his innocence.

“Now, the million-dollar question, did you kill Tlotso Karema?” his attorney, Mr Keoraopetse Sambere, asked in a packed courtroom.

“No, my hands are clean,” Sithole replied, without stating who, to the best of his knowledge, killed the seven-year-old.

He later told the court that Tlotso’s aunt, Kesaobaka, was the last person seen with Tlotso, as they boarded a Toyota Allex motor vehicle to a place he did not disclose to the court.

He further told the court that he was the one who sent a message indicating where the child’s remains were, after a prolonged confrontation with Kesaobaka over the child’s whereabouts.

“Yes, I sent the message after being told where the child was, but it was after a struggle,” he said during evidence-in-chief.

Sithole said he pressed Kesaobaka for the child’s whereabouts because he wanted to know whether the child had reached his destination.

Sithole denied killing Tlotso and also denied being the last person seen with the child and said he never confessed voluntarily.

The police investigating officer, the magistrate and the bench clerk maintained that the confession was given freely.

The magistrate said Sithole did not appear to have been assaulted and had no visible bruises or wounds.

Police also denied that Sithole was taken to DISS on August 30 and 31, or that he named another person as the last person with the child during that period of his disappearance.

No statement from that alleged DISS encounter was presented in court. 

The only non-incriminating statement produced was the one made at Sejelo Police Station.

The investigating officer further told the court that police did not work with DISS on the matter and that no other person had been investigated or arrested in the matter. ENDS