A threat to kill accused person, Canaan Batshabeng who has been on the run for half a month has reportedly died in police custody, just a week after his re-arrest in Mahalapye.
Confirming the incident state prosecutor Sergeant Mmoloki Boshati revealed that the 27-year-old man of Botshabelo died on the 24 June 2022 at Letsholathebe II Memorial Hospital while receiving medical assistance.
According to him, the deceased was seriously ill and even failed to attend his court appearance on the 21st June. The notorious Batshabeng has since been buried by his family at Thito ward in Maun this past weekend.
The deceased person is said to have recently escaped from police custody before being handed to the prisons services pending his bail ruling after his arraignment before Maun Magistrate Court on the 22nd April. He was later arrested in Mahalapye and brought back to Maun.
In his previous court appearance after his re-arrest Batshabeng claimed that he did not escape from custody but was instead released by the police who he claimed even warned him to stay out of contact with the complainant. “They even told me to come back to Maun and confine myself to an unknown place where no one will find me,” Batshabeng told court.
The deceased was facing a single count of threat to kill after he allegedly threatened to kill his 70-year-old grandmother, Nkgomotsang Mathula at her home in Moeti ward on April 17 2022.
Batshabeng also had another possible count of threat to kill regarding the same complainant and the prosecution had indicated that the case was yet to be registered before court.
In the already registered count, the accused person was reported to have threatened his grandmother after she had called the accused’s mother, Floridah Batshabeng to attend to her other grandchild who was crying as the old woman wanted to get some sleep. She is said to have argued that she was resting and did not want noise.
The deceased is alleged to have then instead threatened the old lady by saying “ke tsile go go bolaya mme, ke eng o leletsa batho o re ngwana wa lela ntse ke nale ene,” which translates to “I am going to kill you grandmother, why do you call people telling them the baby is crying while I am with him.”
Batshabeng had previously bagged for bail noting that he was unprepared for the remand. He argued that he has since moved from his grandmother’s place claiming that he only went there to tow his car which he left when moving out.
He told court that he has a four months old baby that he solely takes care of while the mother is helping her sister who just gave birth. Before allegedly escaping from police custody he had promised that if granted bail he will not interfere with police investigations on the matter.
