Ex-BCL Mine employee at cross hairs of hangman
Lebogang Mosikare | Friday September 11, 2020 16:36
The convict, Khumoetsile Mantswe, 36, was found guilty of intentionally killing his girlfriend, Masedi Tshime, on December 30, 2016 at Lesenepole village in the Central Administrative District of Botswana.
Justice Bengbame Sechele found Mantswe guilty of murder after the accused stabbed Tshime-the mother of his two children and former teacher at Kobajango Junior Secondary School with a knife more than 20 times in front of their children-after their love relationship allegedly went through a rough patch.
When pleading with the Court to be lenient with his nephew and not pass the ultimate sentence of death, although not downplaying the seriousness of the offence that Mantswe has committed, Mabeleng Mantswe said he got to know Mantswe and Tshime’s relationship in 2010 following the birth of the then lovebirds’ first child.
Mabeleng also said that he was very close to Mantswe when the accused grew up and has known him as a child who was very focused in life hence it was not surprising that Mantswe was given a cow by his grandfather as a present for looking after the old man’s cattle.
Mabeleng narrated that although Mantswe had not married Tshime, they treated her like their daughter-in-law adding that the murder incident shocked and broke the hearts of the families of the accused and deceased.
“We had expected a lot from Mantswe because he was a focused child who loved his children and who was also taking care of two children of his twin brother who died in a car accident in 2015. I once asked Mantswe when was he going to marry just like his late brother and he told me that he would marry in future but was constrained to do so because he was still assisting Tshime with funds to finish her tertiary education. By then he was working at BCL Mine. Tshime was later employed at Kobajango JSS,” Mabeleng said…
Mabeleng told the Court that Mantswe told him that before Tshime completed her tertiary education at Molepolole College of Education (MCE), Mantswe told him that she was schooling at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology but due to some reasons she did not complete her studies.
Mantswe and Tshime’s relationship started undergoing some problems after she was employed as a teacher at Gobajango, Mabeleng added.
“The relationship problems were having a bearing on our family especially Mantswe who became restless. He was taken for medical attention at Bobonong Hospital where the hospital recommended BCL Mine Hospital to assist him with psychiatric counselling. His condition did not improve because he sometimes cried and complained of a headache even though he was receiving counselling. He was later diagnosed with hypertension,” said Mabeleng.
Mabeleng said he once traveled from Gaborone to visit Mantswe at Selebi-Phikwe and he found him with his two children and maid.
“When I was still counselling him, I discovered that although he was listening to me, he did not understand what I was saying and I kept on repeating myself… He also did not have food in the house and when I asked him what the problem was, he told me that whenever he tries to ask for assistance from Tshime, she did not listen and assist. He also told me that he did not have money to meet his life expenses because he had exhausted his resources on paying Tshime’ school fees at MCE. He also said that their relationship was not going well,” said Mabeleng.
Mabeleng further told the Court that Mantswe told him that he even took his grievance with Tshime to the Selibe-Phikwe Magistrate’s Courts where the Court made an order that she pays P1, 200 per month as child maintenance.
“However, Mantswe told me that Tshime never complied with the Court order. Mantswe’s situation got worse after BCL Mine was abruptly closed leaving the whole country and its employees in a very bad state of confusion regarding their future. After the mine closed, Mantswe took his children to his home village of Shashe Bridge. In December 2016, Mantswe told me that Tshime took the children in order to spend Christmas with them after she made a request. He also told me that the deceased complained that the children were dirty and wore torn clothes when she took them. This issue revived Mantswe’s struggles taking into consideration the way he suffered with the children. This contributed to the death of Tshime although as the Mantswe family we are still reiterating that we are very ashamed of what the accused did and do not condone it,” said Mabeleng.
He added: “…I therefore pray with the Court to pass a sentence that will give the accused’s children and children of his late brother the opportunity to have a father figure in their lives again.”
Mabeleng fielded questions from prosecutions counsel Chimbisani Sechele who put it to him that there was no Court order issued by the magistrate instructing Tshime to pay maintenance for his children, and if so, can Mabeleng produce proof to substantiate his assertion.
In response, Mabeleng said that he did not have proof that the Court in Selibe-Phikwe had ordered Tshime to pay maintenance for his children save to say that he was just relying on the information he heard from Mantswe.
Mantswe also reiterated that following the closure of BCL Mine; the family continued offering Mantswe some counselling sessions.
However, he added that although he did not take Mantswe anywhere for professional counselling since the closure of BCL happened abruptly while there was still a lot of confusion surrounding the fate of BCL Mine workers, he heard about Tshime’s death about two months after the mine was closed.
The Court also heard that before Mantswe murdered Tshime, he borrowed a car from one of his friends saying that he was visiting his children at Gobajango but while on his journey, he stopped at Sefophe and bought an Okapi knife that he used to kill Tshime.
Sechele also put it to Mabeleng that when Mantswe murdered Tshime, she had long dumped him, to which Mabeleng said that he did not agree with Sechele. Sechele also put it to Mabeleng that Tshime’s death was premeditated because before Mantswe murdered her, he told a psychiatric expert Dr Masunda that he was going to kill Tshime.
In response, Mabeleng said that he did not see that as the only reason why Mantswe killed Tshime adding that the fact that Mantswe was having a mental problem, which also influenced him to kill her as a medical doctor, attested to that effect.
On his turn to beg for his life, Mantswe said he greatly regret his actions adding that he was highly intoxicated with alcohol and dagga when he killed his girlfriend. The Court will deliver ruling on extenuating circumstances against Mantswe-who is represented by attorney Kesegofetse Molosiwa on October 8.