Prosecution has amended a charge sheet to add more charges against three of the six men in the infamous SADC office robbery case.
On the first count, the accused persons Maitapiso Thuso Kgakgamatso, 37, Lesego Masilo, 33,Mpho Rasetena, 28, Otsile Semadi, 40, Tongai Tsikirayi and 31-year-old Innocent Bushiri Shaggy, allegedly robbed the SADC secretariat on the 29th of January.
The six allegedly stole 18 laptops, six cellphones and a camera worth more than P582 000.
On the second new count Kgakgamatso, Rasetena and Semadi and another not before court, on or about the 21st of December 2021 at Block 6 Gaborone acting together and in concert, robbed Wenjani YU of P2000 cash, black tablet worth P1 200, black Nokia cellphone worth P250, pink Apple phone worth P8 000, grey Huawei cellphone worth P7 000, blue Itel cellphone worth P500, black cellphone worth P1 200 and a single barrel shot gun worth P23 000.
It is alleged that immediately after such robbery they threatened the said YU in order to retain his property.
State prosecutor, Tirelo, told court that they are still studying the case before they can advise the Investigating Officer who was supposed to take a stand on the first count.
She pleaded with court to extend remand of the accused persons to give prosecution time to complete the investigations.
When asked if they had anything to say Kgakgamatso, Rasetena and Semadi told the court that they haven’t paid their end of March rent and that the landlords do not know their whereabouts.
They promised to cooperate and not interfere with the police investigations if granted bail.
Tsikirayi said he was a breadwinner and that if he was to be detained, there would be no one to take care of his wife and kids.
He also promised to help the police recover the stolen property.
The 6th suspect claimed he was not part of the robbery and that his only offence was buying two of the stolen cellphones.
He asked court to grant him bail so he could go and collect the stolen phones from Zimbabwe.
Village Chief Magistrate, Goodwill Makofi, further remanded them in custody and ordered that the accused persons return to court on the 12th of April for status update.