The Late Rakops Chief: Family Suspects Foul Play
Pini Bothoko | Tuesday October 8, 2019 13:30
Segaise went missing in August and his remains were discovered a month later on the outskirts of the village.
The 96-years-old’s corpse was found burnt to ashes inside his car two weeks ago. He was only laid to rest recently amidst the family’s suspicion that his death was a result of foul play. The family is demanding the perpetrators and the mastermind behind Segaise’s death be brought to justice.
“He did not deserve to die that way. Our father was not missing, he was indeed abducted like we have been suspecting and later shot to death,” the family’s representative Segaise’s grandson, Dr Samuel Letang told The Monitor.
Letang, however, said there are more leads in the case to suggest there is hope the perpetrators involved in the gruesome act would be brought to book and face the wrath of law.
He alleges that preceding to the weekend the remains of their father were discovered, some people in the village claimed to have heard a loud bang in the distance but could not establish what could have been the cause.
“It might be difficult to establish the chronology of events, but the fact that a gun shot was heard on Friday two days before our father was discovered burnt to ashes should be a lead to the police.
It’s so painful. Our father was killed in cold blood. We suspect that the perpetrator(s) shot him and set fire to his car,” Letang said.
He further said the pathologist report also ruled the cause of death as suicide, natural death or fire though his body was found burnt inside his car.
Letang said those findings left the family with even more questions than answers as to what could have led to their father’s death.
“The family has received the shocking discovery that the cause of death was a gun shot and the body was burnt about two days before being recovered on Sunday 21 September, 2019.” Letang said, like the family has always suspected, this was not a ‘missing person’ case but rather an abduction, which has unfortunately ended in the heinous act of the alleged murder.
Letang stated that the turn of events indicate that the perpetrator(s) are people with resources to keep an individual hostage for more than a month and also keep enclosed a vehicle for such a period of time.
“Even ultimately to carry out the heinous murder before staging a fire that led to his discovery is a clear indication that the perpetrators were resourceful,” Letang said.
“However, our family has indicated that with all the revelations that are being unearthed we believe that the police will act accordingly and ensure that the perpetrators are brought to book and justice is attained for the old man.”
He added that given the search to find their father alive failed, attaining justice in the case is the least the police could do for him and his family. Asked about the investigations into the case, Officer Commanding senior superintendent Sarah Gabathusi said the probe is ongoing, especially that there is suspicion the late chief could have been killed.
“We are currently busy with investigations to establish what really transpired. We are pleading with members of the public with any information that could help to assist us,” she said.
She went on to caution people against posting things that they cannot answer for concerning the death of the late chief on social media.
She said they have questioned a number of people following what they had posted on social media and failed to account for their posts. “This is a serious matter because we are talking about someone’s precious life hence should be giving (his life) the respect it deserves,” Gabathusi said.