A 32-year-old man of Mochudi village in Kgatleng district has been arrested in connection with the murder of an 18-year-old young woman who was killed in Maun on Valentine’s Day.
Ramatua James Tladi was expected to make his first appearance before Maun magistrate court on Thursday morning to answer for a murder charge of Lefika Rose Mokgatle who was found dead in her bedroom in Maun on February 14th, 2023.
Maun station commander, Dennis Zilawe confirmed that when the girl was found dead by his father who is a police officer, a cable was tied tightly around her neck but she was confirmed dead upon arrival at Letsholathebe memorial hospital in Maun.
“The way she was lying down and the way the knot was tied on the rope caused suspicions of foul play and our investigations led us to the arrest of a 32-year-old man of Mochudi,” said Zilawe who maintained that the evidence they have against the man may cause them to keep him in custody for a longer period.
Following the discovery of the crime, Mokgatle’s boyfriend who is a son to one of Maun police officers working in the Criminal Investigation Unit (CID) was arrested and questioned, but Zilawe says they had to let him go as there was no evidence linking him to the crime.
The background of the matter is that both Mokgatle and Tladi are from Mochudi and they had gone to visit Maun at the time of the incident.
A quick look at the murder accused Facebook page reveals that two days after the homicide, he shared the girls happy pictures with a message, “Ga o le motsadi, o godisitse ngwana ka botlhoko a ba a go tlogela o solofetse sengwe mo go ene, go botlhoko,” translated, “If you are a parent, having struggled to raise a child and she leaves you when you are still having high expectation of her, it is painful.”
Some of his Facebook friends expressed their condolences for his loss.
One striking post he made was in December last year when he asked, “Kante eke eng bontsi jwa bo rre re tsene ka ntlo ya kgolegelo, why?” (Why have most men been inside prison, why?)
He also asked questions related to cheating and relationships on his page often, suggesting that he could have been battling with relationship related problems.
