Daredevil Keganeditse At It Again
Lebogang Mosikare | Monday May 24, 2021 21:26
This seems to be the case with Modisakgotla Keganeditse, 27, of the Aerodrome location in Francistown. Keganeditse, previously a resident of Kgaphamadi, also popularly known as ‘MD’ in social circles, who is awaiting trial at the High Court for alleged crimes that include rape, robbery and murder, struck again when he ‘assaulted’ a Botswana Daily News journalist, Goweditswe Kome, on Thursday when appearing for mention on Thursday. As if that were not enough, MD allegedly broke Kome’s camera into pieces that he used to take Keganeditse’s photos at the Francistown Magistrate’s Court.
Keganeditse was appearing before Magistrate Game Mooketsi for a bail application related to the alleged rape of a Kgaphamadi woman on Christmas Eve last year.
The rape incident allegedly happened barely two weeks after Justice Matlhogonolo Phuthego granted Keganeditse bail. Keganeditse was granted bail at the High Court after he made numerous bail attempts at the Magistrate’s Courts to no avail at the time. In a move akin to a Hollywood blockbuster movie, Keganeditse allegedly raped the woman he had spent the better part of the day drinking alcohol with in the same locality.
Sources privy to what allegedly transpired on that fateful day told The Monitor that the alleged rape incident happened after Keganeditse found that the window of the house that the woman was sleeping in was not closed.
He allegedly, sources added, picked a stray dog from the street and threw it on top of the woman. “Although the window had burglar frames, it had enough space to allow the dog to pass through.
When the puzzled woman awoke from her deep sleep, she found a dog on top of her and she ran to open the door in a bid to escape from her room.
Little did she know that she was falling into the trap Keganeditse set after she opened the door. Keganeditse forcefully took the woman to the bed and raped her the whole night,” the sources added. Keganeditse is not new to controversy.
He is also facing a charge of rape, robbery and murder of a 74-year-old woman of Area W location in 2018. He is currently awaiting trial before the High Court for the above offences.
While Keganeditse struck again last week, it was not surprising but only a matter of time because he has a penchant for hurling expletives at journalists who he falsely accuses of compounding his legal woes by writing articles about him and taking his pictures.
The Station Commander of Central police, Lebalang Maniki confirmed the Kome incident. “We received a report you are enquiring about from a Daily News journalist on Thursday. The journalist reported that he was assaulted by Keganeditse on the head with fists.
The journalist also reported that Keganeditse maliciously damaged the camera he was using to take Keganeditse’s photos following Keganeditse’s appearance in court for an allegation of rape,” Maniki said.
The incidents, Maniki added, happened outside the courtroom but within the court premises before Keganeditse was handcuffed by the prison security detail that was escorting him since he is an on-remand prisoner.
“Keganeditse attacked the journalist unexpectedly before he was handcuffed. Keganeditse grabbed the camera from the journalist and smashed it on the floor, but the police and prison officers who were in the vicinity of the incident intervened before the situation completely got out of control.
The suspect is likely to face a charge of assault or assault occasioning bodily harm depending on the report of the medical doctor who examined the complainant,” Maniki explained.
Maniki added that Keganeditse will face another charge of malicious damage to government property for smashing the camera. The police boss, however, said that he was constrained to state the value of the camera because investigations in the matters were still at their initial stages. “We don’t tolerate it when on-remand prisoners or members of the public assault journalists at courts or anywhere when journalists are carrying out their professional duties,” Maniki said.
“We, therefore, advise the public, in general, to refrain from such conduct. We also advise on-remand prisoners and the public at large that if they feel aggrieved by what journalists are doing, they should seek legal recourse and not take the law into their own hands.
We also advise the public to refrain from verbally or physically abusing members of the media.” Meanwhile, Keganeditse’s bail application seems to be a long shot from being approved as he managed to commit offences after the initial bail granted by Phuthego breaking the set conditions.