Suspected killers want confession statements withdrawn
“Cops threatened to throw me in a dam!” accused wife
The duo accused of killing a Mopipi kgosi eight years ago – the late chief’s wife and her suspected lover – want their confessions withdrawn, claiming they confessed to murder under great duress.
Kgosi Kesegofetse Patelelo’s battered body was found dumped by the roadside near Mopipi Junior Secondary School on 29th June, 2017.
Soon after the gruesome discovery, police arrested Patelelo’s widow, Seoneni Patelelo, 56, before also detaining her rumoured boyfriend, Peter Forbes, 66, a few days later.
Charged with murder, the pair spent several days in the holding cells before they were eventually released on bail.
During their brief detention, the duo are said to have confessed to the crime.
However, in a ‘trial within a trial’, Seoneni and Forbes appeared before Maun High Court this week, desperately trying to persuade Justice Bugalo Maripe to reject their previous admission.
Giving evidence on Wednesday, Magistrate Keneilwe Thebeetsile, who recorded the initial confessions, told court that back on the 4th July, 2017, Seoneni did in fact claim police brutality.
“She said that before she was brought to me, the investigators threatened her and forced her to incriminate herself. She said they told her to say things she did not know and threatened to throw her into a dam,” testified Thebeetsile, adding the woman then narrated her side of the story to them, which they recorded in both Setswana and English, before reading it back to her.
“She confirmed and signed it,” said the magistrate.
Breaking down the process of recording confession statements, Thebeetsile explained that the police approached the bench to book a confession.
“They will be informed when to come. On the day scheduled, they bring the accused or suspect and hand them over to the magistrate and they leave. The confession is done in the presence of the magistrate or the judicial officer and a desk clerk, away from the police,” clarified Thebeetsile, adding this usually takes place in the magistrate’s office.
Three days later, 7th July, 2017, armed police officers swooped on Forbes at his home in Tatisiding. On 11th July, he confessed before the same judicial officer.
“He appeared to have been of sober mind and senses, and told me he was not threatened nor coerced by forceful means to make the statement,” revealed the magistrate.
However, taking to the witness stand, Forbes maintained that while he did not alert the magistrate at the time, he was under duress because the police had consistently denied him access to an attorney.
“My mind was not working well. I was asking myself a lot of questions. When the magistrate told me that I was suspected to have killed someone, I was stressed. I was not thinking like a normal person. I was undergoing emotional stress and I may have said things that I did not mean,” insisted Forbes.
Unimpressed, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) dismissed Forbes’ testimony as an afterthought and a desperate attempt to get his statement struck out from the evidence.
“I understand myself very well and I understand how the law works because I have done basic law. I told the magistrate that I did not kill anyone!” Forbes fired back.
At the time of going to print, Seoneni was yet to take the stand.
Once she does, the judge will rule on whether or not to admit the confession statements as evidence in the main murder trial, which has been ongoing since 2023. Both Forbes and Seoneni have pleaded not-guilty.
