Letlhakane man in court over land scam

Pini Bothoko | Wednesday November 15, 2017 19:33

 

Boitumelo Wasenda was arraigned before court facing a single count of obtaining by false pretence after allegedly defrauding Onalethata Gakefiwe on September 5, 2016 at Barclays Bank in Broadhurst location in Gaborone.

It was revealed in court that Wasenda pretended to own a residential plot in Letlhakane, which he claimed to be selling to Gakefiwe at the cost of P32,000, the information he knew was wrong.

After the charge was read to him, Wasenda told the court that he would like to seek legal representative.

The prosecutor, Oamogetswe Gaboutwelwe pleaded with Magistrate Gaseitsewe Tonoki to set another mention date in which they would update court on the progress of their investigations. She also said the accused would take a plea in the presence of his attorney.

“Investigations on this matter are still ongoing. I am yet to visit Letlhakane village for further investigations. We have to visit Letlhakane Land Board to take statements as well as to interview Barclays Bank officials,” Gaboutwelwe said. She did not oppose bail for the accused, but said he should be granted bail with an amount of money to be determined by the court.

“He should also provide a single surety, who should be a Motswana and to bind himself or herself with any amount of money to be determined by the court. The accused person should also be granted bail on conditions that he does not to commit any related offence whilst on bail. He should also make sure that he attend court when needed,” Gaboutwelwe said.

Tonoki granted Wasenda bail on the prosecutions’ conditions and ordered him to pay the sum of P5,000.

“You should also bring along with you two Batswana sureties to bind themselves with the sum of P5,000 each to make sure that you follow your bail conditions. You should also make sure that you report to court when needed,” Tonoki said. Wasenda is due in court on December 13 for mention.