Escalation of murder cases worries police
Pini Bothoko | Monday January 22, 2018 16:25
The upsurge in murder cases countrywide worry the police, as people are now clearly not valuing the sanctity of human life. Most of murder cases occur as a result of petty issues according to police reports. They pointed out that these petty issues that always lead to such deaths include arguments during beer drinking, fights over money and arguments between partners in love.
The Botswana Police Service (BPS) Public Relations Officer, Dipheko Motube told The Monitor cases of murder throughout the country remain high despite several interventions to stop the perpetrators from committing the offence.
He indicated that 22 murder cases were recorded during the police end of year operations that ran from the December 18, 2017 to the January 3, 2018, a slight increase compared to the same period last year in which 20 murder cases were recorded countrywide. He noted that this was also an increment in the total number of murder cases as they rocketted from 285 in 2016 to 307 in 2017 mostly as a result of petty issues that could have been easily avoided.
Motube disclosed that in his line of duty he has observed that people’s attitudes can trigger murder. He, however, pointed out that over the past years they have been conducting awareness campaigns urging people to respect the sanctity of life and to avoid settling disputes through violent means but that seem to be falling on deaf ears.
“I am calling on members of the community to consider involving a third party when troubled. These can be the police, Dikgosi or community leaders to avoid unnecessary fights that usually lead to deaths,” Motube said.
He said that according to their investigations, most murder cases were as a result of killings related to love affairs and misunderstandings that erupted mostly at drinking places.
He said that through their investigations, they observed that most people’s violet acts are linked to alcohol and drug abuse. Asked if mental health problems could be behind the escalating murder cases Motube said alcohol and drug abuse are usually the lead abuse of people’s horrific acts.
“Mental health problems are usually the cause in cases like rape, not murder. Most murder cases usually start as unlawful wounding from gender-based violence amongst lovers and end up as murder. People should not resort to violence, but to consider discussing things to resolve their differences,” Motube said.
He pleaded with members of the public to change their attitude and show consideration of their’s lives.
“The way some people approach issues and the behaviour they usually display in the public, especially acting under the influence of alcohol is worrisome. Some people still believe that they can earn respect from displaying such kind of bad behaviour,” Motube said.
He said that they have observed that most people no longer have fear and tend to lose their temper and patience easily.
“The BPS is doing everything in its powers to curb murder cases. Enforcement circumstances, public education and punishment are there, but surprisingly, the problem persists something which I suspect comes from one’s attitude. These challenge parents to work on their children’s mindset in order to raise them as responsible individuals as family is the key socialising agent,” Motube said.
For her part, former Tatitown Customary Court president and along-time social activist, Margaret Mosojane said to curb the rising murder incidents there is a need to look at superstition levels, look at the killer, who was killed and establish what made the victim vulnerable, as well as what caused the perpetrator’s anger.
She revealed that the people who commit most of the murder cases are 40 years and below, something that is also reflected by the behaviour they display in the community.
“Most people are angry, the anger that is brought by their upbringing, most children are raised by single parents, abusive fathers, some are raised in the absence of their fathers, something that seems to trigger their anger as they grow up.
Women are not trained to assess the men they meet in their lives, but mostly they are after the luxuries, cars they drive, their property and tend to be blinded by such material things, hence failing to see the warning signs in their relationships,” Mosojane said.
She, however, called for a holistic approach to heal the society, as there is a huge vacuum in order to deal with people’s attitudes and how they approach issues and deal with anger.