A mourning man has accused the police of letting his brother die, claiming the cops refused to help his stricken sibling because their shift had just ended.
34-year-old Kabo Cedric Sibanda was stabbed to death at his rented accommodation in Francistown’s Somerset Extension location on Sunday night.
The slain man’s younger brother, Peace Kebabone Sibanda, 32, believes his brother might have survived if the police hadn’t stood by and idly watched his life ebb away.
“I have heard the police who were on duty arrived well in time and just shook my brother with their boots, asking him to wake up. Then they left, saying it’s 10 o’clock and they are knocking off, he will be attended by the cops coming on the next shift.”
To compound Peace’s misery, Nyangabgwe Hospital is a walking distance from the murder scene.
“It took more than an hour for my brother to be taken to Nyangabgwe. When the officers on the new shift arrived, they had to wait for the ambulance, which took time to come. My brother bled to death with the police watching him lying down. The cops who came the first time failed my brother, maybe he could have survived,” continued Peace, speaking to The Voice on Wednesday morning before leaving for the family home in Tshesebe.
It is believed Sibanda died a hero, killed after attempting to intervene in a lover’s tiff between a couple who stayed in the same yard, rushing to assist when he heard the woman’s cries for help.
Trying to calm the lovers down, Sibanda was reportedly stabbed for his troubles.
Desperately retreating, he tried to flee but stumbled at the gate, which was closed.
His assailant is said to have followed him, and once again stabbed him with a knife as he lay helpless on the ground.
Turning his wrath from the police to the killer, Peace spat, “I want the person who killed my brother to attend his funeral so he sees the end of what he did. He killed my brother for nothing, I mean nothing!”
Meanwhile, 31-year-old Karabo Scara Selabe was arrested the morning after Sibanda’s murder and appeared before Francistown Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
With the matter still extremely fresh and investigations just beginning, Selabe was remanded in custody and is due back in court on 6 June.
When asked about the allegations surrounding his officers’ less than professional conduct, Kutlwano Station Commander, Neo Serumola told The Voice this was the first he had heard of such.
“It is my first time hearing that the police officers left the deceased, saying he will be attended by those coming for the next shift,” said the top cop.
