Coloured teen 'murders' brother
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Wednesday September 21, 2022 16:10
According to the charge sheet, on September 18, the accused person allegedly murdered Kennedy Moruti at Coloured location here. Unconfirmed reports say the siblings had a dispute over a stolen phone and an altercation reportedly escalated into a fight on the fateful day.
State prosecutor Kenneth Bokgakga made an application for the accused to be remanded in custody. He called on the Investigating officer (IO) for the matter, Detective Kgakololo Basupi to give reasons why the accused person should not be granted bail. Basupi reasoned that the matter is still fresh as the incident happened on Sunday.
He added that the investigations are still at initial stage hence pleaded for the accused to be remanded in custody pending completion of investigations. “Should she be given bail, she will automatically interfere with our investigations because we haven’t found the object used to commit the crime,” said Basupi. When pleading for bail, Moruti stated that she has a nine-months-old toddler who is feeding from formula provided at the clinic. But, Basupi was quick to share that the child is under the protection of social welfare officers.
The accused person differed with the IO believing that her child is not in good care because upon her arrest, they were both assaulted by the police. “Some police officer on duty at the time of my arrest assaulted and suffocated me whereas the other one forcibly grabbed my child and ran away with her. My child was also assaulted and I believe she sustained injuries.
The officers also refused to take us to the hospital despite sustaining injuries,” said Moruti. Responding to Moruti’s accusations, Basupi believed police officers are professionals and would not assault her and the baby but because he was not around at that time of the incident, the allegation will be looked into and an investigation will be launched. Senior Magistrate Thapelo Buang denied the accused bail and remanded her in custody. Moruti will be back in court on October 10.