A robbery suspect claimed police officers tortured him by stuffing his body inside a plastic bag and suffocating him while they pinned him to the ground.
32-year-old Gomotsang Badiye – commonly known as Tshutu of Tutume, Magapatona ward – told Molepolole Principal Magistrate, Solomon Setshedi, on Monday during arraignment that cops have also damaged the door at his house, leaving his property free for thieves.
“After they tortured me, they refused to take me to the hospital. When the Criminal Investigations Department officers escorted me to search for the stolen properties at home, they refused to pass by the shops to get the house keys from my brother. When we got home, they broke the door and gained entry; they didn’t even find anything from the house and now my property is not safe,” said Badiye.
When the magistrate asked the prosecutor, Sub Inspector Ogone Motsholathebe, why he did not bring the investigating officer to court to answer for the allegations, Motsholathebe said that Badiye never complained about torture to him and therefore the IO had gone to investigate other matters in Lobatse.
“I tried to stand by the window at the police cells calling for assistance so that I could raise my concerns. They refused to listen. They said they wanted me to feel the same pain that people feel when we rob them,” said Badiye, pleading with the court to release him on bail.
Sub Inspector Motsholathebe objected to Badiye’s bail application, arguing that the accused would interfere with their ongoing investigations as some of the stolen items had not yet been recovered and the other two suspects were still at large.
Meanwhile, the charge sheet read before court indicated that Badiye and two others not before court at Botshabelo ward, Kumakwane, acting together with common purpose, robbed Obakeng Kgabung of her two laptops, 65 inch plasma television, cell phones and P12 500 cash, total value of stolen property amounting to P57 495.
The accused men allegedly damaged the door to enter the house while the victim was sleeping with her child.
The suspected robbers are also said to have used violence, threatening to stab her with a knife and further demanded her bank card, which they used to withdraw the stolen cash.
The matter will be called for bail hearing on June Kumakwane, 2023 and IO ordered to be available court.
