Police still probing Maun suspect's death

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Friday April 16, 2010 00:00

Mbulawa said findings would be made public once investigations are completed. This is a process that involves the police and the Directorate  of Public Prosecutions (DPP), he said.

The police spokesman said even after they have forwarded the docket to the DPP, the division could still recommend that police thoroughly investigate certain details.

He said after the docket had been sent to the DPP, it did not mean that police investigations were over.  He would not indicate how long the whole process is going to take.

Setlampoloka died in July last year after he was arrested in connection with a spate of robberies. He was reportedly arrested by the Serious Crime Squad who handed him over to the Mogoditshane Police station.

Mogoditshane Police station has become one of the notorious police stations in the country for allegedly torturing suspects.  In the past, some suspects claimed that they were tortured at the station.

It is suspected that Setlampoloka was also tortured before his death.  His body was allegedly dumped at Setlampoloka lands near Gabane.  Initially the police claimed that they were not responsible for his death. 

This was not the first time that a suspect had died in police custody.

In the 90s the Lobatse High Court convicted some Criminal Investigations Department (CID) officers for torturing Peter Mokgware to death.  The officers were later dismissed from the Botswana Police Service. 

Meanwhile, in another development, a Maun inquest ruled last week that a police officer, who shot Mothusinyana Sephiri last year, was negligent. The officer is likely to be charged with manslaughter or murder, legal sources said.

For the first time, Attorney General Athaliah Molokomme commented about the cases of extra-judicial killings during the opening of the legal year.  Molokomme revealed that they have recommended that there should be prosecutions in some of the cases while inquests would be instituted in others.

Since 2008, Botswana has been rocked by cases of extra-judicial killings.  President Khama has never commented on them. But Vice-President Mompati Merafhe has gone on record as saying one or two killings would not tarnish Botswana's name internationally.