A family at Ledumadumane lands near Mogoditshane lives in terror after one of their own was stabbed several times in February early this year by his mother’s boyfriend.
The Voice Newspaper visited the family on Tuesday morning at their homestead and found him in bed, waiting for his grandmother to bath him.
He was released from Princess Marina Hospital last week and put in home-based care.
According to the family, his biggest crime was to confront his ‘stepfather’ after he came home at night demanding to see his mother despite their separation.
“He confronted him about his habit of disturbing them at night when they are sleeping and resting to go to school the following day. He was infuriated and he dragged him out of the house and stabbed him several times, causing injuries to the spinal cord, then left,” said the grandmother, Lebang Modise. The matter was reported on February 16th at around 2am.
She added that the boy is partially paralysed from the abdomen, he is out of school, is wheelchair-bound, and needs support to move around the yard.
Even more demanding is that someone has to collect his treatment from hospital every week.
The perpetrator, Dithapelo Raditladi, was detained for two days at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport Police station and was later granted bail by the Broadhurst Magistrates’ Court.
As if that was not enough, the disgruntled boyfriend is now on a mission to kill his mother, alleged the grandmother.
“He stays just around the corner and has told some people that he wants to finish off my daughter, now she can’t go out of the yard without someone escorting her. We can’t sleep, and the police say there is nothing they can do since he was granted bail by the court,” the old woman lamented.
The mother, Bettilina Modise, confirmed that they had dated since May 2019 until December 2022, but her ex-boyfriend would not accept that their love was over, and has vowed to kill her if opportunity arises. “Yes, I fear for my life. I can’t leave the yard. He has vowed to take my life but the police say they can’t help me,” she said.
Our efforts to locate Raditladi did not bear any fruit since we could not get his phone numbers from his accusers.
Superintendent Mmoloke Sebako of SSKIA Police confirmed that they received the report in which the complainant is a minor. “The suspect was arraigned before court and granted bail,” he said, adding that there was nothing much they could do on the allegations by the mother of the injured boy.
