Ex-Lover Kills Wrong Target
Pini Bothoko | Monday June 17, 2019 18:00
Allegedly acting out of insecurity and in a plot to kill his ex-girlfriend, Thamaga native, Disang ‘Machine’ Itheng, 32, of Morepo ward set fire to her house and mistakenly killed his ex-girlfriend’s elder sister’s boyfriend, Nicholas Kealeba.
Itheng currently, in custody, is facing murder, attempted murder and arson charges. The man had been allegedly stalking his ex-girlfriend for the two months they had broken up.
Early morning last Saturday, Itheng went to his ex-girlfriend, Shubi Tsie’s home and found a Mercedes Benz car parked in front of the house that his 23-year-old ex-girlfriend sleeps in. Itheng concluded she was inside the house sleeping with the owner of the car. Thamaga police station commander, superintendent Moses Kwarare said they received the report at around 2.50am.
“We were told a house was burning at Goo-Sau ward and two people were badly injured by the fire. We rushed to the scene and found the house was indeed engulfed in flames. We took the injured people to Thamaga Primary Hospital whilst members of the community were busy helping to set the fire off,” Kwarare said.
Kwarare added Kealeba who had sustained serious injuries was referred to Scottish Livingstone Hospital and later referred to Princess Marina Hospital where on Wednesday he succumbed to the injuries. “Itheng faced two attempted murder cases and arson, but the charges have since changed to murder, attempted murder and arson,” Kwarare said.
“The deceased’s girlfriend is currently hospitalised at Thamaga Primary Hospital while investigations on the matter are ongoing. The arsonist was on Friday arraigned before Molepolole Magistrate’s Court and will appear again on June 26 (2019).” He said the deceased’s girlfriend who got out of the house first sustained injuries on both legs and is currently recuperating at the hospital. Kwarare said when interrogated, Itheng told the police that he acted out of jealousy thinking his ex-girlfriend was sleeping with another man and set the house on fire. “After seeing a car parked outside, Itheng went to the filling station and bought petrol to set the house on fire not knowing the car was used by his ex-girlfriend’s elder sister’s boyfriend, a mechanic by profession,” he said. “After noticing he set the wrong people on fire, he ran away and later handed himself over to the police. All of the property that was inside the room burnt to ashes.” Kwarare pleaded with members of the community, especially men, to accept when a relationship is no longer working and move on with life.
He said many people have lost their lives whilst some are behind bars just because some of them failed to accept the end of their relationships.
Asked what really transpired, Tsie’s mother, Nnoku Tsie said she was not shocked at what Itheng did as he has been terrorising her daughter for quite some time. She said about three months back, Itheng failed to accept the end of their relationship, and as a result assaulted and injured her daughter with a slasher.
“Maloba nkile ka tsosiwa mo borokong ke ntsa e bogolo fa ke okomela ka fensetere ka bona selalome se go tweng Mochine se dikologa ntlo e bongwanake ba robalang mogo yone. E rile a mpona abo a sia,” Tsie said. The sad mother said she fears Itheng would not rest until he killed her daughter looking at how the jilted lover has been stalking her. “Tragedy has befell us, he wanted to kill Shubi, but sadly my other daughter, Una was sleeping in that room with her fiancé, Nicholas and he set them on fire. He killed a nice innocent young man and my daughter is also fighting for her life at the hospital,” she said.
For their part, Kealeba’s family, who are mourning the death of their loved one, said tragedy has befallen their family all at the hands of a jealous ex-lover. Arriving at the mourning family’s home, The Monitor team was welcomed by Joseph Ramoruswana, the deceased’s uncle and Morwaledi Ramoruswana, the departed’s grandmother. Joseph said it was on Saturday around 3am when he was woken up by a report that a house was burning at their future in-laws’ place. He said he rushed to the scene and found the house engulfed by fire while his nephew and girlfriend were badly injured by the fire.
Joseph said the duo was rushed to hospital and the following day he went to visit them and had the opportunity to question his nephew on what transpired.
“The duo told me ‘Mochine’ burnt them. My nephew’s girlfriend told me they were woken up by a sound and when opening the door she was shocked to see Itheng who immediately set the house on fire whilst holding a steel iron ready to hit whoever was getting out of the house,” Ramoruswana said.
“She said when seeing her Itheng panicked and she asked him why he was killing them and he remained panicked like he was shocked. It shows that he thought his ex-girlfriend was the one who was sleeping inside the house.”
They described the deceased as a calm and collected lad who had great dreams that were shattered by a jealous person.
Ramoruswana, however, said he was disappointed in how the police handled the case. He said the police did not take the matter seriously as they failed to arrest the suspect until he handed himself in. “They were reluctant to arrest him, our police officers here are lazy, they do not give cases the seriousness they deserve and that is why the crime rate is high in our village. They also failed to take a statement from my nephew,” Ramoruswana said.
“On Tuesday after he was referred to Marina I contacted my lawyer and asked him to talk to the police and pleaded with them to go and do their job and that is when on Wednesday they went to the hospital but arrived late when my family was outside receiving the sad news that we lost Nicholas.
We are not happy because the police were reluctant to give this case the seriousness it deserved.” He also blamed doctors at Marina emergency ward for their slowness in attending his nephew stating that if they were faster, he might have survived.