Murder suspects in court

OARABILE MOSIKARE
Correspondent | Wednesday March 11, 2009 00:00

 

The indictment alleges that the four men, Fanuel Mpofu, Assurance Ndlovu, Butholizwe Ndlovu and Romeo Mpofu on February 16, 2007 near Mokubilo village along the Francistown to Orapa road, acting together and with common purpose, murdered Irene Nthoi.

It is alleged that the four herdsmen, who are also illegal immigrants, hacked her to death with a pickaxe before they robbed her. The accused were later arrested by members of paramilitary Special Support Group about 10km away from the scene of the crime for being in the country illegally.

The deceased was on her way to Francistown to meet with her children to prepare to travel to her mother-in-law's funeral in Tati Siding the following day.

Attorneys, Roger Callender, Moabi Madandume, Mboni Manyothwane and Richard Josiah represent the four men, who were teenagers when they committed the gruesome offence. Principal prosecutions counsel, Nomsa Moatswi appears for the state.

Since there were no eyewitnesses in the case, the court relies much on circumstantial evidence and so far four witnesses had testified for the state. The deceased's elder brother, Rueben Buswani told the court that he drove to the scene during the night and arrived before sunrise the following day. Buswani described how he found Nthoi's Isuzu twin cab out of the road.

He also said it appeared her sister was dragged to the bush and was lying on her back. 'There was blood coming out of her mouth. There was also some blood on the back of her head,' Buswani said. He explained that he also saw a pickaxe, a knobkerrie, wheel spanner and the deceased's handbag with her documents at the scene of crime.

Another witness, Margaret Buswani revealed that she received an SMS or Short Message Service from the deceased on the fateful day at around 11:00 hours that the deceased was leaving Orapa for Francistown. At around 18:00 hours the deceased's children, Ndiye and Olivia, arrived in Francistown from Gaborone. They asked the whereabouts of their mother and their aunt informed them that they last communicated in the morning.

The two children then informed Margaret that they had been trying to communicate with their mother but to no avail since her mobile phone could not get through. Olivia called her uncle, Rueben Buswani in Mosojane in connection with the whereabouts of the deceased. Since Nthoi was not in Mosojane, Rueben Buswani advised Olivia, Ndiye and Margaret to report the matter to the police.

Kutlwano police referred them to Tatitown police and they were told that a vehicle had been found along the Orapa-Francistown road with open doors. At Tatitown, the police went to the scene together with Ndiye and Buswani. Margaret and Olivia remained behind to record statements.

Ndiye also testified for the state and repeated what Margaret and Rueben Buswani told the court. He said after leaving the scene of the crime for Tatitown police at around 17:00 hours, a team of Special Support Group arrived with two suspects. He was informed that the two other suspects were arrested the following day.

Ndiye said the first two suspects had items which he identified as belonging to his mother. He identified a grey cellphone, car keys and some cassettes. One of the cassettes had his brother Unami's name. At this juncture the defence had a problem with the witness identifying the cellphone as belonging to his mother. They said the state had not laid a foundation for the identification of the cellphone.

Similarly, they raised a problem with the identification of the cassette written Unami.

They said the name does not only belong to the deceased family. But Ndiye stood his ground saying that he knew the handwriting of his brother Unami.

The case continues before Justice Zibani Makhwade.