‘Insurance killer’ case leaves family in ruins
Innocent Selatlhwa | Wednesday April 1, 2026 06:00
His death sentence was confirmed by three Court of Appeal Justices led by Judge President Tebogo Tau after he failed to convince them that he did not kill the then-Form 2 student.
Amongst those who attended the case was Marks ‘Kganka’ Ofentse, elder brother to Arnold. He sat a few metres from Tsametse, surrounded by prison officers. When Tsametse arrived to take his seat, Ofentse wanted to approach him. He pleaded with a prison official for a moment to speak to Tsametse. He was, however, told he could not do so at court. He said he just wanted to ask him why he killed his only brother.
Not far from where Ofentse was, sat his aunt, mother to his brother’s killer, who had taken in Arnold when the murder took place, Agnes Ofentse. She sat quietly just by the court entrance with one of Thato’s siblings.
After the CoA had made its determination that Tsametse’s appeal had no merit, he was taken away by prison officials. Agnes bolted out of the courtroom and sat outside the court building, crying loudly with her son and another companion trying to comfort her.
Kganka, on the other hand, in tears, tried to find his way to reach Tsametse, but he could not. He went outside and found his aunt crying; however, this did not sit well with him. He expressed his anger at her crying while she had watched her son plan and execute the murder of his little brother. He accused her of not coming forth to talk to him about what had happened.
Whilst walking away, Agnes, still in tears, accused Kganka of refusing to engage with her in the past so they could talk about the issue. The two have not been seeing eye to eye since the case started in 2018, despite being close family as Kganka and Arnold’s late mother and Agnes are siblings.
Tsametse was sentenced to death on May 23 by Justice Modiri Letsididi at the Lobatse High Court.
According to court documents, Tsametse had set in motion a plan in 2017 to start a cab business. Tsametse decided to take out funeral policies on his little cousin, who at the time lived with his mother, with maximum coverage of P25,000 each.
The policies matured after six months; he could cash out upon Ofentse's death. He waited two more months, probably setting a plan in motion and in the early days of March 2018, he took his little cousin on a walk, taking him to a huge Morula tree near Mogoditshane Senior School, where he unleashed terror. According to court documents, he stabbed him four times in the neck, and he died from the slit wounds. Whilst police investigations began, Tsametse went to Botswana Life to claim P50,000 for his two policies on Ofentse.
A Botswana Life agent who assisted him testified in court that the claim was suspicious, and they informed the police. The police took him in and released him shortly after. He ultimately claimed the insurance money and purchased a Honda Fit and a cellphone for his cab business.
He would then approach a traditional healer seeking protection from police investigation. The healer and his colleague prepared a bath and called the police whilst Tsametse was bathing. He would then confess his deeds and recover the clothes and shoes he had worn on the night of the murder.
In court, he denied killing his cousin and claimed he was tortured into confession. The state's case was strong, and he was convicted.
The CoA has since confirmed the conviction and sentencing, stating that the only inference to be drawn from the conjoined pieces of evidence is that it was Tsametse who stabbed the deceased’s throat with a sharp instrument on the night in question and, mercilessly and with intent, killed him.