BPS should take blame for Gantsi tragedy

The Monitor Editor | Tuesday February 1, 2022 06:00

However, a trend has been developing, where some of these criminals outsmart the BPS and end up escaping from custody.

Just this week, a local newspaper, The Midweek Sun carried a heartbreaking story of a young man who escaped from police custody with the sole motive of killing his girlfriend. The young man had been arrested after threatening to kill his girlfriend.

He allegedly tricked the police to take him to see a doctor claiming that he was very ill, and managed to escape after the nurse who was attending to him left him unwatched in the consultation room to get his medication.

The young man allegedly used an alternative door. After escaping from police custody, he went to his girlfriend’s house and was infuriated when he did not find her and torched her house. The police reportedly alerted the girlfriend that the young man had escaped. It is reported that the young man proceeded to the home of his girlfriend’s mother, where the girlfriend had left her children because she was told that she could not go with them to the police station.

He allegedly killed his girlfriend’s mother and her two children, burning their bodies before hanging himself. This is a tragic ending that could have been prevented by the police.

It is one of many such incidents that occur in our country. Last June, three prisoners escaped from custody while being transported from Francistown Prison to Masunga Magistrate’s Court in the North East District.

The three prisoners; Xolane Sibanda, Boy Nxube, and Thandanani Basumi, according to information released by the police, attacked the three police officers who were in charge of guarding them and injured two in the process.

By now, the police have established that there is a problem, and law enforcement must come up with strategies to ensure that such incidents do not happen again. One would have thought before handing the suspect to the nurse the police would have to reconnoitre the surroundings to establish whether it was secure enough. They should not have decided that it was enough for them to guard the front entrance, while unsure of an alternative exit. Had the police done their job diligently, three lives would have been saved.

We appreciate that the police force is overwhelmed, but it is very important and urgent that after arresting criminals, they ensure that they keep them locked up.

It is counterintuitive to do well at the hard work to arrest them, only to end up losing them albeit rather easily, and start the search afresh. Let’s work together to return our Botswana to safety!