A teacher accused of defiling and impregnating a 14-year-old Standard 7 girl will have his fate decided by a Molepolole Magistrates Court on Thursday, September 19th.
51-year-old Letlhaetse Motshegare, a Standard 3 teacher at Ditshegwane Primary School in the Kweneng District appeared for continuation of trial before Magistrate Kaveri Kapeko last Wednesday.
Despite the overwhelming evidence against him which includes positive paternity test results, the teacher who gave sworn evidence in court, maintained he was innocent, but the court ruled that he has a case to answer.
In his testimony, Motshegare said on August 14th, 2020 at around 9am while sleeping he was awakened by a child telling him that he had visitors outside.
“I found two police officers who requested me to accompany them to the victim’s place. They showed me some shoe prints and asked who the owner was. I told them they were mine since I went to pass urine by the log,” explained Motshegare further saying the victim’s mother once had a misunderstanding with his girlfriend.
“The victim’s mother told my girlfriend that ‘mafura a a jang o tla a tsholola, she will spill the fat that she was enjoying. Later on, she further told me she is my brother’s daughter and that I should take care of her daughter as she was my future wife. She said since the girl was still schooling I should assist in buying things for her. I realised the issue was going far and from then I tried to keep my distance from her,” claimed Motshegare.
The teacher further revealed that the victim started bringing him food at his place and that his girlfriend started complaining about the unsolicited gestures.
He said when the school closed during the first national lockdown, the victim went to Kanye before she proceeded to Kotjwe where she came back pregnant.
However, in her testimony the distressed 39-year-old mother, told of how her detective work led to Motshegare’s arrest.
“I found some footmarks outside the hut where my daughter sleeps. They showed that he removed his shoes, jumped over the fence and walked barefooted to the girl’s house. When he left, he jumped the fence again, put his shoes back on and returned to his house. Then I alerted my neighbours who confronted him,” explained the mother of six, adding that she suspected Motshegare because the shoe marks matched the sneakers that she had always seen him wearing.
She told the court that after the matter was reported to the police upon questioning him, Motshegare never denied it was his footmarks rather claimed to have been visiting the student and ensuring she was preparing for the exam.
The mother also claimed to have caught Motshegare sometime in 2019 after his girlfriend alerted her that she saw him entering the traditional hut where the girl sleeps.
“We went there and found Motshegare sleeping at my daughter’s feet. When I asked him why he was sleeping at the victim’s house, he told me he had a misunderstanding with his partner. I just took the matter lightly as I treated Motshegare like a parent,” concluded the mother.
The court further heard that Motshegare gave the victim a black Hisence cellphone to communicate with him.
The cellphone and the victim’s birth certificate were also produced as exhibits before court.
The young girl who is now a mother of an 8-months-old girl is doing Form 1.
Meanwhile, the accused teacher popularly known as ‘Chipo’ in the village has since been suspended from duty after the case was registered before court.
You are degrading teaching profession
Wat a shame…
Plz lets help the girl child from these kind of predators…wats happening now teacher