A devastated 61-year-old woman of Lesong ward in Sefhare has finally gathered strength to find the truth behind the death of his last born teenaged child, Onalethata Tarea who died in police custody in 2020.
The 17-year-old Onalethata was being investigated for a missing donkey in the village, which he was suspected to have stolen for meat when he died.
According to the Onalethata’s mother, Magatalena Tarea, police told her that a fleeing Onalethata had jumped into the sewage pond and drowned to death during investigations.
However Magatalena is adamant that the condition in which she found her son the following day was not consistent with that of a person who drowned but rather someone who was killed and thrown in the pond.
“His neck was broken, it is a clear sign that something or somebody broke his neck and dumped him in the pond. Something sinister happened there,” said the grieving mother who went on to describe her son as a law abiding young man who had never had a brush with the law until that fateful day.
“We may be poor but we don’t starve to a point where my child can steal a donkey to slaughter it to eat,”said Tarea.
Asked why she took a long time to address the matter, Tarea explained that she had been too drained and depressed to do anything meaningful since her son’s death. “It is time now to find the truth; I want justice for my son. It was extra judicial killing and not suicide as they want us to believe,” she said.
Since she cannot afford a lawyer Tarea has engaged her Member of Parliament for Sefhare/Ramokgonami constituency Kesitegile Gobotswang for assistance.
Confirming that he would be helping the old woman to find closure for the death of her son, Gobotswang said, “This family has been waiting with hope that police will provide answers that can get them closure but to no avail. I am very concerned about the manner in which this case was handled. Given a series of unanswered questions, at a bare minimum an inquest should have been conducted. I mean how does a person in handcuffs run away from the police? Were the rules of engagement followed by the police?”
Gobotswang said that it is high time that government establish an independent process that can deal with such cases.
“Parliament has long passed a motion tabled by Nehemiah Modubule calling for a law to establish an Independent Police Complaints Tribunal. The current system where the police investigate themselves is seriously flawed and must come to an end.” said the MP
Efforts to get a comment from Police proved futile.
