Form 5 student, friends charged with murder
Lebogang Mosikare | Thursday May 18, 2017 15:09
The State alleges that the student, who cannot be named for ethical reasons and his two friends, Keabetswe Aron and Bokamoso Sebawe, all aged 18, murdered Innocent Modiakgotla at Block 2 on May 15 .
According to information before Court, Modiakgotla allegedly died after sustaining injuries to his head following a stone throwing incident between a group of boys from Block 7 (who are charged with the murder) and another from Block 2, who allegedly instigated the stone throwing brawl.
The prosecutor in the matter, Goitsemang Ramatatome told the Court that investigations into the matter are still fresh and as such he was applying for the accused to be remanded in custody pending the completion of investigations by the prosecution.
Detective inspector Keoagile Dema explained that looking at the gravity of offence, which carries a maximum term of life in jail or execution, he feared for the lives of the accused because relatives and friends of the deceased could harm them if they were released on bail at this point.
“The accused and deceased are age mates. Some of the deceased’s friends are attending the same school with the accused,” the detective said.
“They may harm him at school if he is released on bail now because they are still angered by what happened.
“I have evidence that the accused had a misunderstanding with a group of boys from Block 2 and they retaliated by throwing stones at them. But at this stage, I cannot comment further because as I have already stated, my investigations commenced on Monday. I am still going to get more information from other witnesses.”
Quizzed further by Ramatatome, Dema said he had information that there were other people who may have had a hand in the commission of the offence but they were not before court.
“If the accused are granted bail, they may tamper with our investigations since they are living in the same area as some of our witnesses. Block 2 and 7 are in the same area. I have also not recovered any exhibit from the scene of crime that could have been used during the commission of the offence.
I need 14 days to complete my investigations,” said Dema.
One of the accused, Aron asked Dema whether it was an offence for one to protect oneself when under attack, to which the officer responded that although the two groups of boys were pelting each other with stones, stones from the deceased’s group did not hurt anyone from the accused’s group.
Aron again asked if police were going to charge the deceased’s group with any offence as “they are the ones who started the conflict”.
However the detective said his investigations had just begun and thus he was not in a position to pinpoint who exactly started the altercation.
The other accused, Sebawe asked Dema if it was the position of the law that someone who is defending himself from affray is guilty of an offence. Dema answered: “I think that one is beyond my capabilities. It belongs to the court to make a determination on it”. Magistrate Kaveri Kapeko ruled that the accused would stay remanded in custody until June 1.