Two men and a teenager appeared before the Francistown Magistrate Court on Tuesday for the weekend White City murder.
The accused, 17-year-old secondary school student, 22-year-old Therisanyo Mmemo and 20-year-old Kgomotso Philip are suspects in the gruesome murder of Omphile Mofaladi on Saturday night near St John’s Church in White City.
The trio who all reside in Riverside allegedly attacked 31-year-old Mofaladi with softball bats Saturday evening and left him for dead in a pool of blood. Mofaladi who operated a car wash near one of the filling stations in Aerodrome, was pronounced dead on arrival at Nyangabgwe Referral hospital.
In court Mmemo, Philip and the 17-year-old teenager did not plead, as investigations into the homicide were still fresh and incomplete. The suspects who applied for bail pending trial were remanded for another 14 days, to give police time to conclude their investigations. The mother of the teenaged boy was engaged and consulted by the court at every step of the proceedings.
“The investigating officer is not before this court, as he is attending to the post mortem of the deceased. And statements have not yet recorded from key witnesses,” the prosecutor told court.
Francistown Magistrate Tshepo Magetse ordered Legal Aid Botswana to provide a legal service for the underage suspect.
“In the next court appearance, I order Legal Aid Centre to avail themselves and provide legal service for the suspect who is a minor in this case. We also need someone from the regional education office to appear before court to advise if it is safe to allow the suspect who is 17-year-old and a student to attend lessons, pending the outcome of this case, and also if other students will be safe if the suspect is allowed back into school”, said Magetse.
“We need to consider the safety of other learners and also of the accused. In the meantime, the accused should be finger printed to determine if they have no previous convictions or wanted for other offences. The 17-year-old minor will be remanded at Moshupa boy’s prison until the 10 of April 2025.”
