The Voice (Francistown)
Francinah Baaitse
8 April 2008
Francistown — A form 5 student at Moshupa Senior Secondary School is recovering from shock following a horrific ordeal with two conmen.
The 18-year-old student lost more than P1 100 in cash and a mobile phone to the merciless thieves recently.
Relating her sad ordeal, the terrified student said she was only trying to buy back her life as the conmen threatened that her days on earth were numbered.
Her late grandfather, who used to be her close friend, was used as a threat to the girl.
Like true prophets, all what the conmen told her was true and had happened to her family.
First, they told her about her grandfather's death, her brother's car accident and where they keep the money in the house.
Around 5 in the late afternoon, she was walking home from the shopping area in the village where she met up with a stranger who stopped her and inquired about a certain yard which she did not know.
While they were talking, two other people, a man and a woman, approached from behind and he asked her to enquire from them if they know the place.
The man said he knew where the place is and stopped to chat to the other man.
"He then said he didn't know how he could thank us since at his home they do not touch money as it brings bad luck."
He asked her to follow them to an isolated place near the river where they set on a stone.
"He started praying for us and told me my late grandfather had sent him to rescue me from the evil that is about to befall me."
According to the conman, the student was to have a tragic accident unless she surrendered her valuables.
He told her the recent accident that his brother was involved in was meant to kill her had she been in the car.
She was also told that unless something is done urgently, she would have a tragic death by the end of the Easter Holidays.
That is when they asked her to submit her valuables to them.
"He told me to put my phone in the other pocket of his leather jacket."
Then they left for her house with a strong warning that if she tells anyone or talks about this she would die. He then told her that all the money in her house is dirty, therefore, it needs to be cleansed. She was then ordered to collect all the cash that is kept in her house. The conman claimed the money brought her bad luck.
He even told her that a strange animal stays on the roof of her house and that when she is home alone it cuts her hair and gives it to the witches so that they weaken her intelligence and school performance.
"I was so afraid that I stopped thinking but just melted under their command, especially as they said they were sent by my grandfather. They also knew my name and every thing that was happening at home."
The conman waited about a kilometer away from her house because he said he was not supposed to see her yard and the other one waited about 100 meters away.
At home, she demanded money from her mother who is a primary school teacher.
"She was acting like a mad person. She wanted all the monies kept in the house. Since she knows where I kept it, she collected all the notes including the smallest coin in the house and left."
The mother, who was very worried and concerned about her daughter, asked her multiple questions which never got an answer.
"I could not figure out why she would demand all that money," Her mother said.
She was then ordered to walk in a backward motion on her way back home and only stop at the gate where she was to wipe her face with soil from the entrance.
She was also to wait for her grandfather's voice in a dark room. The voice was supposed to say: "Thuso o a go bitsa. (Thuso is calling you)."
The money was not enough to satisfy the conman's greediness.
"He asked me how much my mother's phone is worth. When I told them it was P1 900 he said I should bring it as well."
The mother, however, guarded her phone and made it difficult for her daughter to make away with it.
"She kept on demanding to make calls. Immediately after her call, she would try to go away with it but I would demand it back," She said.
The truth was only revealed when the brother arrived home around 10 at night after his mother had called him from as far as Jwaneng so that he could find out what was going on with his younger sister.
Moshupa Police are in pursuit of the two culprits. The station commander, Superintendent Tebogo Ngiye, asserted that this case was the first of its kind to be reported at his station. He, however, warned people to be aware not to fall victim to con tricks.
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