BDF attempted murder case referred to another judge

GALE NGAKANE
Correspondent | Tuesday December 6, 2011 00:00

Batsile Kesupile, a 36-year-old BDF Lance Corporal appeared briefly before Justice Padi Solomon when the prosecution requested that the matter be reffered to another judge.

In making the request, the prosecution said they took into cognizance the fact that the case was scheduled for trial yesterday.

'It is just that upon perusal of the docket, we found it appropriate to request that the matter be handled by a different judge,' the prosecutor from the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) said. While the defence lawyer, Keitshegile Sechele of KK Sechele Attorneys did not have a problem with the latest development, Kesupile expressed his frustration at the postponements.

'Part of the reason the case is being postponed is because my former girlfriend is reluctant to come here,' he said in an interview after the court session. Apparently, the former girlfriend, Nametsegang Stewart now lives abroad after getting married to a foreigner.

The prosecution is alleged to have chartered a flight on three occasions for her to come and give evidence, but she did not pitch up and there is a possibility she may not turn up at all.  

When he first appeared for mention last year January, Kesupile was charged with the attempted murder of Stewart and her mother, Cecilia Mphathiwa.

Labelled 'dangerous and armed', and apparently using the tactics he had mastered as a soldier, for three days, the police, with a reinforcement from the BDF, could not apprehend Kesupile, who lurked in the bushes surrounding Tonota village. They however, occasionally spotted him.

'He went to his parents who turned him in,' said Station Commander Reuben Mphoen at the time when asked for an update by this newspaper.

It is said that even the day he was brought in by his parents, he simply walked over to the charge office desk and introduced himself. Soldiers and police officers infested the entrance to the police station when he walked in on that fateful day.