Pregnant mum in court for ‘Cat’ possession the day before due date
Due to give birth the very next day, a heavily pregnant young mother left court in tears on Wednesday morning, when she was remanded in custody after being caught with suspected Methcathinone.
Trying to console her equally distraught two-year-old son, Nomsa Koga, 21, wept bitterly as harsh reality set in: she will have her next baby behind bars.
To add to her distress, the Zimbabwean also had to say an emotional goodbye to her traumatised little boy, who faces an uncertain future and will temporarily be taken into social care.
Perhaps thinking her huge baby bump would spare her from prison, especially as the cops had allowed her to sleep at home following her arrest the previous night, the miserable scene was a far cry from Koga’s relaxed demeanour when she arrived for her arraignment at Francistown Magistrates’ Court.
Sitting in the corridors, her toddler son munching happily on mafresh and magwinya without a care in the world, the Chitungwiza native chatted confidently with police officers.
“I sell a sachet for P50; the ones I was found with were going to make P450, leaving me with P150 profit. I order with P300 – the last order made P200 profit,” Koga told one officer, seemingly unaware of the trouble she was in as she revealed she was expecting a daughter, with her due date Thursday (28th September).
Acting on a tip-off, the boys in blue raided Koga’s rented home in Tonota on Tuesday afternoon, where they reportedly found nine sachets of suspected Methcathinone under her mattress.
Known as ‘Katse’ or Cat’ on the streets, the highly-addictive, readily-available drug is especially popular with the youth, with its use said to be widespread and causing the cops a nasty headache. Notorious for tearing families apart as addicts go to extreme lengths to get their fix, it seems ‘Cat’ may have destroyed another mother-son relationship.
Koga’s cheery manner began to slip when she was taken into the courtroom, forced to leave her son outside with the police, causing the startled youngster to howl for his mum.
It got worse as she admitted to being in the country illegally and pleaded guilty to border-jumping.
The Prosecutor, Baedzi Matshambani, then pointed out that not having the required travelling documents makes the suspect a flight risk and so requested she be detained.
“We fear she might escape if granted bail. And she was only arrested yesterday, so the investigations have just commenced. The suspected Methcathinone has to be taken for forensic analysis,” continued Matshambani, whose wish was granted, much to Koga’s heartache.
In a cruel twist of fate, Koga was told she will return to court on Thursday for facts reading in the illegal immigrant case – providing of course she’s not giving birth at the same time!
