A prosecutor in the cases in which a former soldier Simba Mooketsi Mampori is accused of killing four of his former girlfriends in 2016, 2018, and 2019 has told the Francistown High Court that one of the files has not been traced.
This as the accused appeared before Francistown High Court for a status hearing.
The 36-year-old man from Mbalambi, who has been incarcerated since his arrest in 2019, is yet to be tried for two of the four murder cases he is linked to. Five years since the demise of his victims, trial in two of the cases has not yet commenced.
Appearing before Judge Bashi Moesi, the Prosecutor handling Mampori’s case told the court that while efforts have been made, the missing file has still not been traced yet.
“I have made efforts to have the file in question traced as far as Lobatse High Court. But all this has been in vain. The file cannot be found. However, I have resubmitted the necessary documents for the case in question to the DPP. Hopefully in our next status meeting will have made progress”, indicated the prosecutor.
The matter returns to court in September this year.
Mampori burst into the limelight in 2019, when he was arrested by the police in Thamaga for reckless driving. Upon being apprehended, police noticed bruises around his neck, and upon further probing after being treated at Thamaga primary hospital, the former soldier, gave the cops his mother’s cellphone number and keys to his sister’s rented house in Bontleng.
He then led the police to a house, where they found the body of 34-year-old Matlhogonolo Mashashu, his girlfriend and mother to their two-year-old daughter, in a pool of blood. A screwdriver was next to her lifeless body and scribbling written in blood on the wall of the room. “Ke lapisiswe ke maaka” (I am tired of lies).
Investigations reveal that Mampori had tried to end his life, by hanging himself. Only for the rope to snap leaving him with a bruised neck and braising on his body. With a botched suicide, Mampori is said to have recklessly driven his car, hoping to cause an accident and die.
Five days earlier Mampori is alleged to have stabbed to death a 39-year-old woman also believed to be his lover. The woman is said to be from Molepolole.
At the time of committing the above murder, Mampori was on bail for a 2016 murder in Mahalapye and a 2017 killing in Gaborone, both involving women. The two murder cases cost Mampori his job in the army.
