Three murders, eight attempted murders and two arsons attributed to one suspect
10 December is judgment day, the first of many, for Gobuamang Ntsuape, a suspect in three murders, eight attempted murders and two arson cases.
The 35-year-old is accused of torching his ex-girlfriend, Dorcas Kgosietsile’s parents’ house in Francistown’s Block 9 location on the night of 13 September 2016.
Although Dorcas escaped the blaze unharmed, as she was not even in the house when it was set alight, her mother, Sadie Kgosietsile succumbed to the flames. Her father, Chief Mosarwa Kgosietsile suffered serious burns but lived to tell the tale.
Dorcas’ two children and brother also escaped the fire.
During the trial, Dorcas described her relationship with Ntsuape as rocky, revealing they were always at the police station and attending counselling sessions due to his abusive tendencies.
Reliving the night her mother was so cruelly killed, Dorcas told court she was sleeping in the study room outside the main house when Ntsuape called the landline. A few minutes later, just before midnight, he called her cellphone, allegedly ordering her to come outside and warning her ‘it was too late to call the police’.
“I immediately phoned my mother telling her that Ntsuape was on his way to the main house. A few minutes later I heard my father screaming calling me saying ‘Dorcas we are burning with the kids where are you?’ I opened the door and saw the two cars, mine and my father’s cars burning and I rushed to rescue the children as my mother was already at the gate,” a tearful Dorcas testified before court.
At the time he is said to have committed the offence, Ntsuape was out on bail in an arson case before Broadhurst Magistrate Court. The Ramotswa native is alleged to have sent his boss ‘uncomfortable text messages’ after being suspended from work before later torching two company vehicles. That particular matter is still pending before court.
It was on 1 December 2016, when he was being transported back to prison in a police van after appearing in court for Sadie’s murder, that Ntsuape is said to have killed again.
He is accused of attempting to wrestle for control of the vehicle’s steering wheel, causing the driver to veer off the road and the car to overturn.
The crash resulted in the deaths of a prisoner on remand, Zimbabwean native, Emmanuel Makolo, and Botswana Police Service Special Constable, Thuso Ntusa.
Ntsuape is also facing four further counts of attempting to cause the deaths of: Otukile Mbatshi, Karel Ludick, Kemmonye Gabaitse and Peter Mothwala, who were all in the police van but survived the accident.
For Ntsuape, by the time he is judged in that matter, he might already be facing a date with the hangman’s noose for Sadie’s murder.
