Nkomazana will spend more time in prison, after Justice Michael Mothobi postponed his application for bail to Friday where the applicants are expected to provide a full application before the court. Mothobi yesterday appeared unhappy with the application before him. The accused’s lawyer, Busang Manewe, explained that it was decided to file for the bail application at the High Court after several failed attempts at the magistrate level.
He tried to argue that the State had failed to show cause beyond reasonable ground why Nkomazana could not wait for trial outside prison as the police had confiscated all his passports. In addition, Manewe argued, most of Nkomazana’s relatives are Batswana residing in Botswana. Nkomazana was arrested on November 17 along with his girlfriend and three Batswana government employees after allegedly illegally obtaining an Omang and masquerading as his late boss to steal at least P3.9 million. The case is currently before Extension II magistrate, Ntombizodwa Ncube where the details of the scheme, based allegedly on the death of businessman, Solomon Tlhapane, are yet to be revealed. In his affidavit before the court, Investigating Officer (IO) detective superintendent, Sergeant Marapo told the court that he had received a report that a corpse had been kept at Travellers mortuary in Botswana from September 1, 2016. He said he then established that the corpse was that of an 89-year-old Motswana and that it had previously been at a South African mortuary from June 20 this year.
