A 27-year-old man who allegedly threatened to kill his 71-year-old grandmother twice has escaped from police custody.
According to State Prosecution, the accused person, Canan Batshabeng of Moeti ward escaped from custody while being transported to prison pending his bail ruling.
Batshabang was set to appear on Friday last week for bail ruling, but State Prosecutor Inspector Paul Basupi notified court that the he was nowhere to be found following his escape. He was initially remanded on April 26.
Basupi explained that the accused person escaped by jumping off a moving police van and fled, adding they have launched a search for the accused.
Batshabeng who allegedly threatened to kill his grandmother Nkgomotsang Mathula at her home in Moeti ward on the 17th April 2022 has another pending possible count of threat to kill regarding the same complainant. The prosecution has indicated that the case is yet to be registered before the courts.
In the first count, Batshabeng is reported to have threatened his grandmother after she had called the accused person’s mother, Floridah Batshabeng to attend to her other grandchild who was crying as the old woman was getting some sleep. She is said to have argued that she was resting and did not want noise.
The accused person 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 ke ntse ke nale ene,” which loosely translates to, “I am going to kill you grandmother, why do you call people telling them the child is crying while I am with him.”
During bail argument on the his previous court appearance, the investigating officer Othomile Samuel pleaded with court to deny the accused person bail as the matter was still fresh adding that they have also not yet collected statements from possible witnesses.
He further noted that there is another case by the complainant of threat to kill against the same accused person which is yet to be registered before court.
For his part, Batshabeng begged 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.
The accused person broke down in court, saying he has a four months old baby that he solely takes care of while the mother is helping her sister who just gave birth. He had promised that if granted bail he will not interfere with investigations.
