*Widow’s courtroom flip after husband’s murder mystery
A woman accused of killing her husband eight years ago has made a dramatic somersault, flipping on a confession she made days after her arrest.
Seoneni Patelelo the 55-year-old widow of the late Chief Kesegofetse Patelelo of Mopipi village, told a packed Maun High Court this week that her admission was nothing more than a lie forced out of her by the police.
Her husband’s body was found lying in the street near the village secondary school in June 2017.
Appearing before Justice Bugalo Maripe on Monday, Seoneni took the stand to defend herself in a trial within a trial, arguing that her confession statement was not entirely true. She claims she was tortured and forced to “tell lies” by the police.
“I am here to explain about the confession statement I was made to do by Detective Molefi. He forced me to admit to killing my husband, yet I did not kill him. I made the statement against my will,” Patelelo explained.
Patelelo testified that she was arrested on June 29, 2017, just hours after her husband’s demise. She claims non-uniformed police officers, including Detective Molefi, arrived at her home and initially delivered the news, saying they found the Chief “clean and without any injuries.”
She alleges that the officers returned shortly after to arrest her in the presence of her eldest daughter. “Before I could step outside the house, I felt a hot slap from Mr. Molefi who then led me to their waiting vehicle,” she recounted. “While I was still in shock and confused he said, ‘I am going to fix you.'”
Patelelo testified that she was taken to the village Kgotla where she found more police officers, including uniformed Special Support Group (SSG) personnel. She claims Detective Molefi openly accused her of throttling her husband, saying he had seen her entering her house through the window around 10p.m.
When the Judge quizzed why the detective would say that and not act immediately to help, Patelelo replied that she asked the same question and was told she “did not have good manners.”
She said the officer insisted she had throttled her husband and demanded she confess, threatening, “If I don’t confess we will go far with the matter.”
Patelelo then described being transported in the back of a van toward the Orapa police cell. At a bus stop in Mokoboxane village, she alleges a female officer pulled her out by her dress. “They assaulted me and told me to state what I have done,” she claimed.
During the said police brutality, Patelelo said she revealed personal marital issues, including that the Chief had not been living at home and was staying with a girlfriendand that she only realized he had moved out after his death, explaining she mostly stayed in Gaborone. Patelelo however maintained she had nothing to do with his death. The Judge remarked: “Your story has to be believable,” and questioned how she wouldn’t immediately realise her husband had moved out. She insisted she had been advised not to expose her family’s “dirty linen” due to her husband’s status as a tribal leader.
Patelelo further claimed that at the Orapa cells, she was assaulted and tortured daily. She alleges police told her, her husband had been dismembered and demanded she show them the knife she used, taking her back to her residence to look for missing keys.
She said the assaults continued, leading her to request a transfer to Mahalapye holding prison cells due to her deteriorating health. “When I was finally taken to Mahalapye I was very weak, bleeding from my ears, my cough had blood in it, I was feeling dizzy with pain all over my body as a result of torture,” she testified.
However she said the police dismissed the symptoms, telling her she was sick “because she had cancer.”
Patelelo also claimed the police pricked her with pins, one of which became lodged in her wrist until it was surgically removed while she was out on bail.
She said before she was forced into the confession, the police had threatened to throw her into Orapa dam as punishment of her alleged crime.
“They said no one would come looking for me as I am a Lekula,” she told court, alleging she was told she was not a Motswana.
Patelelo and her co-accused, 67-year-old Peter Forbes, have both pleaded not guilty to the murder charge and are challenging the admissibility of their confession statements.
The trial within a trial is to determine whether Patelelo’s confession can be admitted, as evidence continues. Forbes’ attorney had previously indicated he may challenge his client’s statement after studying all affidavits.
The trial-within-a-trial is scheduled to be heard over three days as the court determines whether Patelelo’s confession will be allowed into evidence.
