News / National
Botswana men beat up a Zimbabwean to death for stealing a bicycle
27 Jan 2013 at 06:47hrs | Views
A Zimbabwean has been beaten to death in Botswana for allegedly stealing a bicycle. Two brothers accused of his murder recently appeared before magistrate Sijabuliso Siziba in Francistown.
Utlwang and Simon Mosiame Batlang, 27 and 22 years of age respectively were not asked to plead to a single charge of beating the unnamed Zimbabwean with fists and logs until he died.
The two have been remanded in custody as investigations into the matter were still at infancy stages. Sub-Inspector Paul Chaluza of Tonota Police Station, prosecuting, applied that the accused persons be caged in order to give the police time to carry out their investigations.
To buttress his application, Chaluza called the investigating officer, Detective Constable Mpho Madile to court to explain why the police needed the murder suspects to be locked up.
Madile said although the matter was reported on December 17, 2012, the police only managed to apprehend the two suspects last Saturday following a tip-off from a reliable and concerned member of the public.
"On December 17 last year, I received a report from a veterinary official that they had discovered a decomposed human body in the bush. The police immediately instituted investigations and on December 27 2012, I received a tip off from a reliable source that the deceased was suspected to be Zimbabwean whose real names were still to be established. I was informed that the decomposed body belongs to a Zimbabwean national and the last time he was seen, he was in the company of the accused persons," he told the court.
The investigating officer said some of the potential state witnesses were close relatives and friends to the two accused persons and if granted bail chances of the two jeopardising the ongoing police investigations were very high.
The duo will appear again in court on January 22 for a mention.
Utlwang and Simon Mosiame Batlang, 27 and 22 years of age respectively were not asked to plead to a single charge of beating the unnamed Zimbabwean with fists and logs until he died.
The two have been remanded in custody as investigations into the matter were still at infancy stages. Sub-Inspector Paul Chaluza of Tonota Police Station, prosecuting, applied that the accused persons be caged in order to give the police time to carry out their investigations.
To buttress his application, Chaluza called the investigating officer, Detective Constable Mpho Madile to court to explain why the police needed the murder suspects to be locked up.
"On December 17 last year, I received a report from a veterinary official that they had discovered a decomposed human body in the bush. The police immediately instituted investigations and on December 27 2012, I received a tip off from a reliable source that the deceased was suspected to be Zimbabwean whose real names were still to be established. I was informed that the decomposed body belongs to a Zimbabwean national and the last time he was seen, he was in the company of the accused persons," he told the court.
The investigating officer said some of the potential state witnesses were close relatives and friends to the two accused persons and if granted bail chances of the two jeopardising the ongoing police investigations were very high.
The duo will appear again in court on January 22 for a mention.
Source - voice
