Armed with a knife, catapult and a metal rod allegedly to try and win a fight he had lost the previous day, 27-year-old Baopedi Keretetse of Maun walked to his death on October 1st.
Allegedly Keretetse walked into the Baboletse homestead in Boseja ward on Independence Day, September 30th at around 22:00 hours in a fighting mood.
Evidence presented in court on Monday morning has indicated that Keretetse picked a fight with one of the Baboletse brothers, Kebonyetshepho Baboletse and tried to stab him with a knife.
He allegedly lost the fight and walked away. The next morning he once again stormed into the yard with the same knife and demanded to see Baboletse.
This time around however, it was his target’s elder brother, Oratile Solomon, who was home and Keretetse immediately shifted the attack to Solomon.
The court heard that Solomon ran to the neighbour’s yard with Keretetse in hot pursuit with a metal rod in hand, which he used to hit him on the right arm.
Cornered, Solomon was forced to fight back, overpowering the attacker in the process and grabbing the metal rod from him and fatally stabbing him with it in the chest.
Appearing before court on Monday this week, the 39-year-old Solomon stood accused of Keretetse’s murder.
Pleading with the court to deny him bail, the prosecution called the investigating officer- Botshelo Betty Kesego who revealed that it was too soon for the accused person to be granted bail.
“The investigations are still at initial stages. We are yet to collect the statements from some of the witnesses who reside with the accused in the same yard and there is likelihood of him interfering with state witnesses,” revealed Kesego adding that they are yet to get the postmortem report.
Appearing on behalf of Solomon the defence attorney; Lawrence Lecha, submitted that his client was a victim of violence that was perpetrated by the deceased.
“The victim went to the accused’s house with an intention to fight Solomon’s brother armed with weapons of which one ended up killing him. He came the night before to fight and when he lost the fight he ran away and came back the following day. The accused person was a victim; it is only that the perpetrator ended up being killed,” Lecha argued.
Solomon is set to appear again on October 14th to note his bail ruling. He will be remanded in custody until then.
