The murder trial of Kabo Modisane was once again postponed to April next year after the State’s key witness said she could not remember events of November 26th, 2016, the day her husband was allegedly killed by her grandson.
After taking the witness box, the 75-year-old Mosetsana Modisane said she did not know why she was in court.
A few minutes later she said she only remembers hearing a knock on the door in the house where she was giving care to her granddaughter who was in confinement.
“After we opened the door, I only remember seeing a person I didn’t know. We panicked and ran around the house not knowing what to do. I can’t remember who that person was,” she said.
But after several attempts to give her guidance, the State prosecutor Edward Tlhowe, made an application to declare her a hostile witness.
He said that the witness was saying things that were totally different from what was contained in her written statement.
He even requested the court to issue an order to take her for mental examination, something that Justice Gabriel Komboni declined on grounds that it is not his duty to order witnesses to undergo medical/mental examination.
The prosecutor said that if the widow does not testify, the State is going to suffer serious setbacks.
Justice Komboni advised the prosecutor to apply a new approach to the case because the matter is between family members where a grandmother is testifying against her grandson.
