I was freed by a police officer - �fugitive�
Othusitse Khuwa | Thursday April 6, 2017 16:00
Instead, Ontsheketse Marothodi stunned court when he told Magistrate Ishmael Molobe that he was told by a police officer who was escorting him to go home and not return to prison.
Marothodi was responding to prosecutor Gasemotho Pitlagano who had earlier said Marothodi has been on the run from the law for five years.
Pitlagano also said Marothodi was incarcerated at Serowe state prison in relation to six counts of stocktheft and another charge for allegedly obtaining by false pretences.
Pitlagano applied for Marothodi to be further incarcerated for fear that he will not attend trial.
“Efforts are being made to get statements from the investigating officer but in the meantime, we pray that the accused should be remanded in custody because he is a flight risk who may not attend court to face his charges. He is a fugitive from the law and was arrested on March 19,” he said.
Pitlagano’s assertions did not go down well with Marothodi who vehemently denied what the prosecutor had said.
Marothodi told the court that after he was transported from Serowe state prison where he was incarcerated, he appeared before a magistrate in Francistown but was later told by a police officer who was escorting him to go back home to Serowe on his own since there was no transport to take him back to Serowe prison.
“I am surprised by the assertions made by the prosecution intimating that I escaped from lawful custody.
I did not escape from lawful custody because the officer who was escorting me even gave me P50 to go back to my home village in Serowe. I have been in Serowe since then,” said Marothodi.
Molobe acceded to the application made by the state and remanded Marothodi in custody.
Meanwhile, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has sent back the docket of Gobuamang Ntsuape back to the police to record statements from various officers who handled evidence in Ntsuape’s many cases against the state.
Ntsuape is facing serious charges among them murder, arson and threat to kill that he allegedly committed in September last year after he was dumped by his girlfriend.
The DPP’s Chimbisani Sechele told the court that investigations in the matters were still ongoing.
Magistrate Kaveri Kapeko further remanded Ntsuape, who was not present in court. He ordered that Ntsuape should be brought to court on April 19 for status report.
Ntsuape is now in custody at Serowe prison for his safety after prisoners at the Francistown Centre of Illegal Immigrants (FCII) bayed for his blood.
The prisoners became angry after Ntsuape allegedly caused a car accident that injured some inmates who were transported back to prison following their appearance in court.
The accident also led to the death of a special constable and an inmate and injured some police officers that were aboard the Toyota Quantum that was used by the police to take the inmates to prison.
The state has since laid two counts of manslaughter and one charge of disabling the driver of the Quantum to cause an accident in order to commit an offence following the incident.