Double murder suspect denied bail

A 25-year-old double murder suspect has been denied bail after pleading with the court to release him from custody to care for his family.

When denying Keautlwetse Botena bail this week, Molepolole Chief Magistrate Goabaone Rammapudi ordered that he  be remanded in custody till the next mention date slated for February 6^th, 2020.

The magistrate delivered the ruling after the state prosecutor, Sub Inspector Maureen Segokgo, opposed Botena’s bail application on grounds that though the two surviving victims he wounded were released from the hospital, they were still going for medical checkups.

Segokgo also submitted that the prosecution was still waiting for post-mortem reports and affidavit for the two deceased men.

Botena, a herdboy at Poloka cattlepost, is facing two murder charges for killing Kgalalelo Tom and Kagiso Hume as well as two other charges for unlawfully wounding Ronald Elija and Katlego Bogatle by stabbing them with a knife.

Both incidents occurred last year on December 1^st at Moshaweng village in Kweneng West.

The victims had allegedly fought with the accused on the fateful day, throwing stones at him and he later hunted them down and stabbed them one after the other with a knife.

The four men were rushed to Scottish Livingstone Hospital where Tom and Hume died from stab wounds shortly after arrival and the other two, Elija and Bogatle were admitted and later released on different dates.