Number 1 fugitive nabbed in SA

Chakalisa Dube | Tuesday April 19, 2016 16:07

 

He is now reportedly in a South African jail awaiting trial for four robberies he committed in that country.   According to a South African weekly, The Sunday Times, the 28-year old Samotse was arrested recently in connection with four robbery incidents that happened between March 5 and March 24 this year at Hwibi hiking spot in the Limpopo province.

Samotse is locked up at Polokwane prison and will appear again in court for mention on May 24.

Yesterday, local police said they were in the dark about Samotse’s capture.

“We engaged Interpol Gaborone to assist in locating him some months ago but we are yet to get any communication from them. I will speak to the investigating officer now to engage Interpol Gaborone to establish if they are aware of reports of Samotse’s arrest in South Africa,” said Central Police station commander Superintendent Lebalang Maniki yesterday. He said if Samotse was indeed in South Africa, police would seek advice from necessary stakeholders on the way forward as the matter was “sensitive”.

Samotse caused an international incident in 2014 after South Africa mistakenly extradited him to Botswana, without securing guarantees that he would not face the death penalty if found guilty of murder.

South Africa had been unwilling to hand Samotse over without guarantees that he would not get the death penalty. However, South Africa Home Affairs later mistakenly extradited Samotse to Botswana due to what it termed an “oversight”. Days after his arrival, Samotse escaped from Nyangabgwe and was believed to have crossed back to South Africa, where he reportedly enjoys high connections. Samotse is wanted in connection with the murder of his girlfriend in Francistown in March 2011.

It is unclear whether Samotse will be repatriated to Botswana this time around.

Botswana has often maintained that it cannot guarantee that Samotse will not get the death penalty if found guilty of the murder. On the other hand South African authorities said they he could not be extradited without assurance that he will not be hanged if pronounced guilty of the murder.