Harrowing details revealed in Ntsuape case

Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Tuesday November 12, 2019 16:53

 

Ntsuape allegedly committed the offences on September 13, 2016 at Block 9 location in Francistown at the homestead of his former girlfriend’s parents, Dorcas Kgosietsile, following the breakup of their relationship. 

The first prosecution witness, Chief Kgosietsile, who is Dorcas’s father, told the court under cross-examination from the defence counsel Charles Tlagae that he was inside the house when the car started burning, but he did not see the accused when the car went into flames. 

Kgosietsile also stated that Dorcas was not with the people who were inside the house when it was incinerated but was inside one of the houses in her parents’ homestead. 

Kgosietsile was also adamant that Ntsuape was and is the one who splashed him with petrol, which burnt his face. 

He said so after Tlagae put it to him that forensic evidence shows that the substance that Kgosietsile alleged was splashed on him was not petrol contrary to what he was saying.

“…I will say that the substance that the accused splashed me with was petrol,” said Kgosietsile who added that it was just an omission on his part to forget to record that in his police statement when the matters were still fresh in his mind.

Kgosietsile went on: “I also saw the accused holding a can/container in one of his hands and a matchstick on the other… I then rushed to him in order to prevent him from igniting the matchstick. He was already prepared to ignite the matchstick when I rushed to him….” 

Kgosietsile also told the court that Ntsuape is not telling the truth when he says that he was not holding a container that he used to splash any substance on the house.

During re-examination from state counsel Carlos Diwundu, Kgosietsile stated he did not know if Dorcas and Ntsuape were still in a relationship on September 13, 2016 because theirs was not a stable one. 

He added that his connection with Ntsuape was borne out of the fact that Ntsuape had a child with his daughter and nothing else.

“I intervened in their relationship when they had misunderstandings… and there was nothing that bonded us other than that… Yes I know that the accused wanted to marry Dorcas because his parents promised me that he wanted to marry her. I don’t exactly remember when that was but I remember that it was after Dorcas came out of confinement. Dorcas and the accused had never cohabitated,” said Kgosietsile.

The second prosecution witness, Dorcas, told the court under direct examination from Diwundu that she was in court in relation to incidents in which her mother died in the aftermath of an inferno that happened at her parents’ Block 9 residence.

She said: “I know the accused. He is also the father of my child. We started our relationship in 2010 when I was working in Gaborone. While I was seven months pregnant, the accused had a misunderstanding with his mother. The misunderstanding led to him beings kept in custody in Ramotswa. He wanted to kill his mother and siblings because he said that his mother was in a relationship with another man who was not his father….' 

After she said that, Dorcas also narrated her tumultuous relationship with Ntsuape, which led to their breakup.

The accused, according to Dorcas, threatened to kill her after she told him that she no longer wanted anything to do with him.

The court also heard that despite Dorcas’s numerous ways of saving her relationship with Ntsuape by among other avenues taking Ntsuape for counselling to pastors and social workers, her efforts did not bear any fruit.

The case is set for continuation of trial before Justice Lot Moroka on Wednesday and it is scheduled for the whole of this week.

In a separate trial, Ntsuape is also facing two counts of manslaughter and one count of disabling in order to commit an offence.

He allegedly committed the offences on December 1, 2016 by wrestling for the steering wheel of the vehicle used by a prison official to transport prisoners to a prison facility at Gerald Estates.

The state alleges that the driver lost control of the car and in the process it ended up overturning.