A 16-year-old boy believed to have killed his older brother, aged 19, during a scuffle at their Bluetown home appeared before a closed Francistown Magistrates Court on Friday morning.
The youngster, a Form 3 student at Selolwe Hill CJSS, is facing a murder charge and cannot be named for legal reasons.
He is said to have struck his sibling, who was doing Form 5 at Francistown Senior Secondary School, in the head with the handle of an axe on Monday 3 July.
The teenager was taken to Nyangabgwe Hospital but died of his injuries nine days later (12 July).
According to sources close to the tragedy, the trouble originally involved a third, younger brother, being given a thrashing by his big bro for using his zam-buk.
Feeling that the beating was over the top, the accused tried to intervene and split the pair up, only to receive a few blows across the head for his efforts.
He fled outside, returning a little later when he believed his brother’s temper would have cooled down.
It seems the elder boy was still angry, however, and was lying in wait for his sibling.
That’s when the accused reportedly grabbed a wooden axe handle (mohinyane) and clobbered his brother.
The underage youth was not immediately arrested as his parents never filed a police report. It was only after the boy died that the hospital staff reported the matter to Tatitown Police.
As the accused is still a juvenile, he was taken to stay with his grandmother before his arraignment on Friday, when he was remanded in custody at Moshupa Boys Prison.
He returns to court on 28 July.
