- 37 year – old on police wanted list
A 37-year-old Maun woman alleged to have swindled a number of individuals of their money in a land scam has been charged for fraud and was this week further remanded in custody by the Maun Magistrate’s Court while her male co-accused person remains out on bail.
The accused Annie Ramatlhodi from Rameno Ward is accused of defrauding a certain Aobakwe Ditladi the sum of P50 600 on the 4th of July 2022 by selling her a plot in Matshwane that did not belong to her. The accused reportedly acted together with the second accused, Lesego Tshwantsho of Thito Ward in Maun with a common purpose to defraud the complainant.
The state alleges that Ramatlhodi who is the mastermind in the conspiracy communicated with the complainant through a phone call offering to sell her the plot. This was after the complainant had made a public post on social media indicating that he was looking for a plot to buy.
It is further alleged that at the time of their communication, Ramatlhodi who claimed to be in Francistown connected the complainant with her friends in Maun who went and showed him the plot together with its documentation.
After seeing the plot, the complainant communicated with the first accused who later traveled to Maun to meet him where they proceeded to sign the documents and the amount of P50 600 was transferred to a Bank Gaborone account provided by Ramatlhodi but belonging to Tshwantsho (second accused).
The complainant proceeded to develop the plot only to stop when contacted by the Tawana Land Board officials who informed him that the submitted documents were fake. The matter was then reported to Maun Police and the first accused was arrested on the 7th of August.
On Friday, prosecutor Khani Khani pleaded for the first accused person to be further remanded in custody and for the second accused to remain out on bail. Khani argued that the second accused has pending cases at a number of police stations that include Tutume, Palapye and Mochudi.
Furthermore, Khani revealed that Ramatlhodi is also on the wanted list of suspects in Maun for other different cases. He argued that added investigations on the matter are still ongoing, adding that she may interfere with them. As the duo remained silent Magistrate Goafone Mosweu, subsequently ruled in favour of the prosecution. They will both appear in court again on August 24th, 2023.
