More Jail Time For Molepolole Triple Murder Suspects
Pini Bothoko | Monday September 10, 2018 13:56
The quartet appeared before the Molepolole Magistrate’s Court for the deaths of Patrick Ramantosha, 55, his wife, Boingotlo Fridah Ramantosha, 47, and their son Keabetswe Ramantosha, 22, on June 22, 2018 at Ntloelengwae ward.
The deceased were found with their hands and legs bound and their mouths gagged in a scene that is suspected to be murder.
Following a bail plea for the accused persons from their attorney Sesupo Masaka when they appeared for mention recently, Molepolole chief magistrate Linah Oahile-Mokibe seemed unhappy with their attorney’s application.
Oahile- Mokibe stated that for as long as investigations into the matter continue, the accused persons will remain in custody.
“Prosecution just disclosed before court that a television set belonging to Keabetswe Ramantosha, one of the deceased in this matter, has been recovered,” she said.
“It is only a period of a month since the accused persons’ remand in custody and since then the State has been making progress and updating court on the progress of their investigations therefore court cannot at this point change its mind on the issue of bail. A month in the case of this magnitude is reasonable.”
The accused persons’ lawyer, Masaka, had explained that he decided to file the bail application since investigations into the case are almost complete. “The quartet was remanded in custody pending police investigations, but since the prosecution has just stated that the investigations into the matter are almost complete that gives the accused persons a chance to be granted bail,” Masaka said, pleading for the accused persons’ bail.
He went on to state that the accused persons were never remanded on suspicion they would interfere with investigations or their prospect of being a flight risk, but they were remanded because the matter was fresh and investigations were ongoing.
“Accused persons are candidates for bail. No one undermines the fact that this is a serious matter, but at this stage no one can point to either one of the accused persons and say indeed you committed this offence. Ever since their arrest they have been cooperating with the police, continuity of police investigations should not take away their right to liberty,” Masaka said.
Representing the prosecution, Pascal Mohandu said reasons are on record for accused persons to be further remanded in custody. He pointed out the issue of public anger, as one of the reasons why releasing them on bail would pose a real danger to them.
“Members of the society are still angry at this matter, releasing them on bail might lead to them being harmed or killed. This is a triple murder case, a complicated case in its nature that requires enough and detailed investigation.”
Mohandu said there are leads that police still have to follow and it is not even three months, but the accused persons’ attorney is already complaining.
“Police should be given enough time to pursue any leads available to them. We are, however, making progress as today we have added another count of robbery into their charge sheet,” Mohandu said.