The Voice (Francistown)
Nomsa Ndlovu
8 April 2008
Francistown — A murder suspect, in a case in which two Northwest District Council employees were found sprawled in a pool of blood in the Okavango Delta, has appealed to the court to warn the police against harassing his parents.
Manonthotho Raditshego, 37, of Tsau Village in the Ngamiland District told Maun Magistrate Rebecca Motsamai that his parents were afraid to stay at their home because officers were threatening them in a demand for more information.
"My parents have told me that CID officers are saying that this is not the first murder that I'm alleged to have committed. They say that I have killed other people before. They have also gone to all my previous girlfriends and inquired about my reputation," he said.
In court, Raditshego criticized the police tactics, claiming they were unethical, inhuman and cruel.
"If at all the cops need anything, they should stop hounding my parents, and deal with me in any way they like. I'm saying this because my folks are living under unbearable strain, so the police should be sympathetic to them and stop topping up their suffering."
Raditshego applied for bail but was referred to the High Court because the presiding magistrate said that she had no jurisdiction over the case. If found guilty of murdering co-workers Monnawamagkowa Keamogetse, 58, and ex-girlfriend Kenneng Mmoko, 35, he could face the death penalty.
Allegations are that in December last year, while on a malaria spraying trip at Pom Pom Safari Camp, Raditshego gunned down his victims and vanished. Keamogetse was shot in the chest, while Mmoko was found about a kilometer away from their camping site, with gunshot wounds to her arm and forehead.
In his presentation, the Head of the Maun Directorate of Public Prosecution, Pascal Mhandu, told the court that Raditshego's docket was still in the hands of the police and the State was waiting for the summary of evidence.
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