Murder accused pastor�s prosecutors want networks� help
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Friday April 28, 2017 15:17
Reverend Mogomotsi, together with Thapelo Tlhase (24), and Mokganedi Porogwane (41), appeared before Mochudi Magistrate, Keabetswe Mojuta on Thursday charged with the murder of his wife, Dianah Ompelege Mogomotsi. The pastor’s wife died in January following a brutal attack by alleged thieves at their home in Mochudi.
Yesterday before a packed Court, prosecutor Tlotlang Balathwa of Botswana Police Service (Prosecution Unit) pleaded with the Magistrate to extend the remand warrant of the accused. He said that investigations are still ongoing.
“We are still waiting for responses from both Mascom and Orange since we have requested some information from them. We humbly request that the accused be remanded in custody,” he said.
The suspects have been in police custody since their arrest earlier this month. Mogomotsi was denied bail two weeks ago as Mojuta said he was not a bail candidate. She said that the state needed more time and space to gather evidence and that the investigations were fairly new.
She had also said that the evidence was still volatile and there was a likelihood of interference with the gathering of evidence and added in the interest of justice, the Court did not want to put the police under pressure to hurry their investigations just because the accused wants to be released. Meanwhile, Mogomotsi has since applied for bail at the High Court after the Mochudi magistrate Court turned it down and advised him of his right to appeal at the High Court within 14 days. His bail application has been set for April 28 (today). It is alleged that Mogomotsi plotted the murder of his wife and hired his co-accused to kill her in return for money.
However, hardly three months after the death of his wife, he was hospitalised with serious head injuries after he was allegedly held up and beaten to a pulp for 12 hours, from 3pm to 3am by his co-accused and two others who were not before Court.
The suspects will return to Court on May 11, 2017 for mention.