Toddler burnt to death

Tumelo Mouwane | Thursday June 18, 2015 15:06

Ramatlabama Police Station Commander, Tshegofatso Mokumako said the incident took place in the early hours of Tuesday morning, after her grandmother had left for work.

“We are investigating a case in which a one year 10 months toddler girl in Ditlharapa village was found burnt to death on Tuesday. The fire that engulfed the bedroom that the child was left in is alleged to have been caused by a candle,” he explained. 

The police officer also said that the deceased lived with her grandmother since her mother resides in Gaborone, adding that the girl’s grandmother had asked the deceased’s aunt to take care of the child, while she went to work at Ipelegeng.

“The child was allegedly left in the house whilst her aunt was outside, upon her return she found the house engulfed in fire,” he said.

Mokumako explained that the family lived in a three bed-roomed house and the fire is alleged to have started in the bedroom, which the child was left sleeping in. He added that the body was now at Goodhope primary hospital awaiting a postmortem report.

“We cannot reveal any names at this stage because investigations are still ongoing. All I can divulge is that the child is currently at Goodhope Primary Hospital mortuary and we are still awaiting a postmortem report.

We are working hand in hand with the family on this matter, but no arrest has been made,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ramatlabama police station Criminal lnvestigations Department (CID) officer-in-charge, Moses Temogo said they are investigating a murder case in Tlhareseleee, but refused to divulge further information. Instead, he said they are working hard to deal with the stock theft and burglary in his policing area.

 “We are concerned with the high incidences of stock theft and burglary cases. Many houses are unoccupied in Pitsane West but people must however refrain from leaving valuables in their houses.

I also urge people to form community policing committees to help the police in curbing crime in the area,” he said.

Temogo added that they had managed to curb the high rate of vehicle theft in the area after setting up roadblocks along the Pitsane and Metlojane roads.