Smash And Grab Thief Dies On 'Duty'

Pini Bothoko | Monday May 7, 2018 13:52

It is alleged that the young man aged between 22 and 30 years snatched something from unsuspecting victims around the Square Mart Supermarket, and whilst trying to escape, he got instant karma when he was hit by a speeding car coming from SADC traffic lights.

The place is one of the hot spots for traffic crimes, always dotted with groups of young men loitering by the roadside waiting for cars, especially those driven by women, with the intention of snatching their valuables. These thugs are known to terrorize the city of Gaborone, and keeping the police on their toes.

While talk was that the deceased was a thief running away from the scene of crime, assistant superintendent Irene Lepodise of Gaborone police station, who is investigating the fatal accident, however dismissed the allegations.

“Investigations into the matter are ongoing to establish the cause of the accident.

We are not yet sure if the deceased was a thief or not but we only know that an accident that claimed a young man’s life occurred hence we cannot confirm or comment any further on such reports,” Lepodise said. She stated that the investigations so far reveal that the traffic lights had opened “for the car that hit him, we do not know what really happened but investigations are ongoing to establish the cause of his death.

He was immediately rushed to the hospital where he was certified dead by the doctors on arrival”.

She stated that the deceased’s body is currently at Tsa lorato mortuary and pleading with members of the community to come and identify him as they have not yet identified his relatives.

“He did not have anything in his possession like an identity card that can help us identify him. He only had a mobile phone with headsets.

We are yet to use the phone to establish who he is and probably locate his family.

In the meantime we are pleading with members of the public who have not seen one of their family members since Saturday night to visit the mortuary,” Lepodise said.

Lepodise said they suspect that he night have been residing in Block 3 location as he was hit by a car trying to cross the road that side from Phase 2 location.

Even though Lepodise has dismissed the reports for a while now across media platforms the police have been issuing a warning to members of the public to be extra careful as pick pocketing and smash and grab incidents are on the rise in the city of Gaborone.

The criminals usually targets cars at the traffic lights, break the windows to snatch people’s valuables such as mobile phones, laptops, money and other valuables.