Alleged church thief still on the run

Lebogang Mosikare | Wednesday January 11, 2017 15:17

 

The accused in the matter are Daniel Makosana, 48, Ookeditse Mabika, 26, Benson Khumalo, 33, and Mompati Moremedi, 25.

The state alleges that the incident happened on June 13, 2015 at Bible Life Church.

But when the accused appeared in court for mention on Monday, inspector Mengistu Chigala told the court that the fourth accused person, Moremedi, is still on the run.

Said Chigala: We are still on the lookout for the accused person and we are hopeful that we will arrest him very soon. We apply for Mabika and Khumalo to be further remanded into custodyî. Asked if he had anything to say, Makosana said he had nothing to say.

Mabika asked the court to give him the record of proceedings so that he can apply for bail at the High Court while Khumalo prayed with the prosecution to speed up their efforts to arrest Moremedi so that their trial could continue in earnest.

Principal Magistrate Dumisani Basupi postponed the matter to January 20 for status report.

Previously, the arresting officer, detective constable Milton Almando told the court that on June, 2015, he was part of an interviewing panel at Francistown police station where Mabika and Khumalo were arrested following reports that Bible Life Church was broken into with money stolen from it.

Almando said during the interview, Mabika said he broke and stole from the church with the help of Makosana and Moremedi and voluntarily led them to the arrest of Makosana in Maunatlala. He said Mabika voluntarily led them to the residence of his mother where part of the stolen money was recovered.

“We then returned to Maunatlala police station where upon arrival I conducted a personal search on Makosana and found P945.30 from his purse. He told me the loot was part of the stolen money” said Almando adding that Makosana then voluntarily said that Moremedi was in Gaborone.

Almando said Makosana, Mabika and Khumalo voluntarily told the police after they returned from Maunatlala that they broke into the church and stole from it adding that they also voluntarily led the police to the scene of crime.

When cross-examining Almando, Makosana put it to Almando that he admitted breaking into and stealing from the church because Almando was pointing a gun at him.

Almando denied ever holding a gun during the interview and pointing it to Makosana. On the other hand, Mabika refuted everything Almando said but in response, Almando said he was surprised by what Mabika said because when he arrested him, he volunteered to help the police look for Makosana.