State Withdraws Murder Charge

ISAAC PINIELO
Correspondent | Monday September 6, 2010 00:00

 

Nonofo Ndubiwa was set free after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Leonard Sechele wrote to Francistown Magistrate, Thebeetsile Mulalu to drop the charges. The magistrate said he would not dispute the DPP's direction, hence he dismissed the charge. When Ndubiwa inquired why the prosecution had decided to drop the charge, the magistrate informed her that he was not obliged to seek the reasons.

It is, however, said that the charge was dropped after the post-mortem results proved that the child died of natural courses because he had asthma, instead of poisoning as earlier alleged. Initially, Ndubiwa of Mmadinare had been accused of unlawfully administering poison to the two-year-old son of Omogolo Gabosekwe (27) in Block 7, Francistown.

Preliminary evidence presented to the court indicated that the accused went to check her boyfriend in Block 7 and upon arrival, he locked her out of the house. She spent the night in the cold and in the morning, she allegedly asked for water to bath. She is said to have gone to the child's room to play with him while the maid was busy with household chores. The maid is alleged to have at some stage heard the child crying, and when she approached Ndubiwa, she told her that there was nothing to worry about.

The maid reportedly found the child vomiting and unconscious. He was rushed to the hospital where he later died.

After the charge was dropped, Ndubiwa said the case drained her emotionally. 'I cannot even walk in the streets nowadays because people now regard me as a murderer,' she said. She indicated that she might institute a lawsuit after consulting her lawyer against those involved in implicating her.