Deceased Half-Naked Woman Found In Ledumadumane
Pini Bothoko | Monday April 16, 2018 13:19
It is suspected that the 32-year-old woman from Mahalapye, whose name is still being withheld, might have been raped before she was killed as she was found half-naked.
According to Sir Seretse Khama Airport Police acting station commander, assistant Superintendent Michael Mooketsi Mosothwane they received a report from a passerby walking from Gaborone to Mogoditshane.
On his way, the passerby found what he thought to be a person laying in the bush.
Mosothwane said the woman’s body was discovered around 5.30pm on April 4, 2018 still in a good condition hence police suspect that she might have been killed the previous night.
The woman’s body was immediately taken to Princess Marina Hospital (PMH) for an autopsy and other tests to establish if she was sexually assaulted or not. “No suspect(s) has been arrested yet in relation to the incident, but investigations into the matter are ongoing. She did not have any physical injuries hence we suspect that she might have been strangled to death.
We await post mortem results for verification,” Mosothwane said.
Mosothwane added that they suspect that the deceased might have been killed at a different location from where her body was discovered.
“We failed to identify footprints of any people or person who might have dumped her in the dense bush. We suspect when dumped there she was already dead because there were no struggle marks,” he said.
After recovering her body the police appealed to members of the public to come forward to identify the deceased. After a few days the victim’s family members came forward and managed to identify her.
It is alleged that the deceased’s family members stayed for days without knowing that she had passed away because it was some time since she left home with her family not knowing her whereabouts.
The Monitor has learnt that the family did not even know where in Gaborone she resided, as she would disappear without a trace and not visit family members in Mahalapye for some time.
“We tried to establish if she stayed in Ledumadumane to no avail, sadly even her parents do not know where she resided, but only knew she was occasionally seen in Gaborone at times,” Mosothwane said.
Mosothwane, however, revealed that it was not the first incident in his policing area as they had a similar case back in 2014 in which a man was found dead and dumped along Sir Seretse Khama Airport road.
He said in that case their investigations later established that he was killed at Malotlwane village in Kgatleng district and was later dumped in Gaborone.
Last November, another woman’s decomposed body, wrapped with a blanket then stuffed in a big bag, was discovered dumped in a bush in the outskirts of Tlokweng village.
Early this year police discovered that the woman’s boyfriend, who was the main suspect in the unsolved murder, committed suicide. His lifeless body was found hanging from a tree in a bush at Lephaleng fields, a few kilometres from Thamaga village on January 14. With reports of horrific incidents of violence against women continuing unabated in the country, Mosothwane pleaded with partners to seek help or involve a third party. He said that when having misunderstandings in their relationships partners ought to avoid taking the law into their hands in the so-called acts of ‘passion killing’.
He said that usually when a woman is found dead and dumped they would discover that the boyfriend is her murderer.
He said that the boy-child must be taught anger management at an early stage to be prepared to face any situation even rejection.
“Passion killings remain the country’s greatest concern. Usually when rejected by their lovers the boyfriends prefer to kill their girlfriends motivated by jealousy of letting her go and anger.
I am pleading with members of the public to seek help from us, the police, Dikgosi, social workers, parents even pastors when troubled to voice out their problems and get help to avoid finding themselves in situations where they would instead opt to kill,” Mosothwane pleaded.