Chinese Businessman Shot, Wounded In Mogoditshane

Pini Bothoko | Monday March 11, 2019 12:34

“It was around 8pm when a Chinese couple was closing their shop when they were attacked by two men, one armed with a pistol,” Mogoditshane station commander, superintendent Russ Letsebe told The Monitor.

“The Chinese businessman fought with the gunman who was instructing him to give him money and ended up being shot on his hand.”

Letsebe said the incident happened in full view of security guards as well as Choppies customers.“The Chinese businessman was in company of his wife when the incident occurred, but luckily the injury was not bad,” he added.

“They said that the gunman who was not masked was in the company of another man and fled the scene after the shooting. The gunman failed to take anything from the duo, as the Chinese man was resistant.”

Letsebe revealed that this was the third shooting incident in a short space. The police chief suspect there might be a syndicate of gunmen on the loose in his policing area.

He said of recent, there have been multiple shootings in Mogoditshane and Metsimotlhabe where businesspeople were robbed at gunpoint.

Letsebe stated that it appears that the culprit(s) target and attack businesspeople who they follow to their homes at night where they fire warning shots and demand money.

He said looking at the modus operandi of the perpetrator(s), it appears that a syndicate is involved.  Letsebe said the trend started two weeks ago when a bar owner at Metsimotlhabe was followed to his house by thugs who robbed him of money amounting to P20, 000 and then fled the scene just after midnight. In a similar incident last week Saturday, a gunman attacked a diesel depot at Nkoyaphiri location in Mogoditshane, fired three shoots and made away with P4, 000.

Letsebe said the incident occurred at around 8pm and no one was hurt although three shots were fired.

He said investigations were ongoing to locate and arrest the culprit(s).

Letsebe pleaded with the business community to avoid having large sums of money in their homes and consider depositing their cash at the end of business to avoid falling prey to criminals.