*DJ Bakito to face music as waitress breaks silence on 2023 assault
*Police arrest the DJ on set over assault and unpaid bill
Nearly three years after he allegedly dragged a waitress in his car from Déjà Vu night club through the streets of Gaborone’s CBD, after refusing to settle his bill, the long arm of the law has caught up with popular disc jockey, Bakang Phiri also known as DJ Bakito.
Following what appeared to be a cold case, the aggrieved waitress Tracy Setlhabi who has since recovered from her ordeal, took to social media this week narrating traumatic details of the night of October 14, 2023 after she served DJ Bakito and his two friends.
Setlhabi’s story instantly became the talk of the town and a social media flash point after she told of how her routine nightshift turned into her worst nightmare.
She said all seemed to be going well as she served Bakito and that when he asked him to settle the bill he told her to relax as they were still buying more drinks.
“Later I couldn’t see him in the club and when I went outside I saw him heading to the parking lot. Despite my efforts to call him, he reversed his car and tried to flee,” Setlhabi recalled, adding that she rushed to the car and tried to grab the keys which were on the passenger seat.
“He grabbed my hand, started the car and drove from Deja Vu to BURS (approximately 850m) before releasing it. At that time I was injured because he had driven over my foot,” she explained.
She added that she opened the case at Borakanelo police station and could not work for three weeks because of the injury. “I got a call from the police on a Wednesday this week after sharing my story on Facebook and they promised to review the case. I will have to give them all my documents from the hospital,” she told this publication during an interview this week.
When contacted for comment, Bakito confirmed the incident but presented a starkly different version of events, placing the blame on the waitress’s uncooperative behaviour.
“I was willing to pay my part of the bill and leave the rest for others because there were three of us, but she refused saying I should settle the bill all by myself. A friend of mine who invited us for drinks left us at the club without notice.”
Bakito said that bouncers kept him under watch for some time until early morning when he asked to be released. He claims this was agreed upon, but he was shocked when the waitress came running, opened the car door and tried to grab his house keys while the other man on the other side tried to remove the car keys. “I panicked and released the brakes so I could drive away. I drove for about two metres before I let her hand out after I realised that I had driven over her feet.”
Bakito added that while on set on Monday the following week, police arrived and arrested him in the middle of the set where a case of hit-and-run and failure to pay a bill was opened against him. He said that the case was later changed to assault and during the confrontation Setlhabi kept calling him, “a broke n@gga who cannot afford sh#!t”.
He said he had been waiting for the police to call him back but was surprised to find himself trending on social media “due to lies”.
“I have opened a cyber bullying case against her at the same police station.”
Borakanelo Police Station Commander, Superintendent Patrick Mapodisi, confirmed that his station was handling the two cases. “I think both parties will be called to answer for themselves and whoever is found guilty will be charged,” he said.
