‘Ntsuapegate scandal’: Did he or did he not?
FRANCISTOWN: Details of how Gobuamang Ntsuape allegedly murdered two people and attempted to murder four others started to emerge in Court on Tuesday when his trial began in earnest.
The 35-year-old Ramotswa native is charged with the deaths of an on remand prisoner from Zimbabwe, Emmanuel Makolo, and a Botswana Police Service special constable Thuso ‘Jah’ Ntusa on December 1, 2016 at Gerald Estates in Francistown. In addition to the charges, Ntsuape is facing four counts of attempting to cause the deaths of Karel Ludick, Peter Mothwala, Kemmonye Gabaitse and Otukile Mbatshi still on December 1, 2016 still at Gerald Estates.
Ntsuape, who is represented by attorney Othusitse Mbeha, pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The alleged offences happened when a team of police officers and prison officials were transporting the prisoners back to prison at the Francistown Centre for Illegal Immigrants (FCII) at Gerald Estates. The FCII was used as a prison facility when the Francistown State Prison was still undergoing renovations.
Ntsuape was initially charged with two counts of manslaughter and one of disabling in order to commit an offence. He allegedly committed the offences on December 1, 2016 by wrestling for the steering wheel of the vehicle used by a prison official to transport prisoners to a prison facility at Gerald Estates. The State alleges that in the process the driver lost control of the car and it ended up overturning. The State later made an application to amend the charge sheet leading Ntsuape to face the current charges. After the case was adjourned on Monday to allow Mbeha the opportunity to sufficiently consult with his client, Mbeha told the court that they will admit eight witnesses and their associated documentary exhibits. The first State’s witness, Peter Mothwala, an on remand prisoner at the Francistown State Prison told the Court that on November 30, 2016, Emmanuel Makolo and Ntsuape went to where he was sleeping in prison around 2000hrs and said to him that they should escape from prison the following day after they appeared for their mentions at the Francistown Magistrates Courts. “I just ignored them.
On November 1, 2016, myself, Monato, Makolo and Ashley Ncube were transported to Court in the company of Inspector Kelekang Tsheko and Constable Otukile Mbatshi inside a Quantum minibus. After we finished our mentions at Court we returned to prison.
When we were about to reach the roundabout near Francistown College of Vocational Education (FCTVE), I noticed that the car was speeding and veering off the road. The car then overturned. I then got out of the car followed by Ludick and Ntsuape. Monato then asked Ntsuape why he wanted to kill us, but Ntsuape kept quiet,” said Mothwala under cross-examination from prosecutor Gonayaone Ketlhapetswe. Makolo, Ncube and another police officer were thrown out of the car and were lying on the ground, Mothwala explained. “Inspector Tsheko was locked in the front passenger seat. We managed to pull him out of the car... A prison Land Cruiser from Serowe luckily passed along the road where the minibus had overturned and we managed to call for assistance. When the accident happened, I saw Ntsuape who was sitting directly behind the driver, Otukile Mbatshi, holding the driver’ seat and front passenger seat,” Mothwala narrated. He also explained that after the car overturned, Ntsuape went outside the car and sat at a nearby tree.
When under cross-examination from Mbeha who told him that the charge sheet says that Ntsuape is facing two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder, Mothwala said that he was not sure if it was Ntsuape or the driver who attempted to murder him. He later gave the same answer when Mbeha asked him the same question in relation to all other people who are mentioned in the charge sheet.
Quizzed by Mbeha that one of the witnesses in his statement has mentioned that Ntsuape jumped to the steering wheel of the car while it was in motion which led it to overturn, Mothwala said to the best of his recollection, he did not remember seeing Ntsuape doing so. Mothwala also said from his observation the car was moving very fast at around 120 km/hour. On a follow up question, Mbeha told Mothwala that according to the driver’s statement, the driver said that he was driving at around 100 km/hour which was beyond the speed limit. When Ketlhapetswe re-examined Mothwala, Mothwala confirmed that he did not see the driver speaking on his phone when the vehicle overturned. At the end of the proceedings, Justice Barnabas Nyamadzabo made an order that as agreed by the State and defence counsels that the State will no longer be calling Monato and Ludick as witnesses. The judge said before adjourning the matter to Wednesday: “The prosecution has stated that it encountered a lot of difficulties in locating Monato and Ludick since their release from jail.” However, Ntsuape’s case took a different narrative on Wednesday when another State witness, a police officer, Kemmonye Gabaitse, testified.
Constable Gabaitse told the Court that during that fateful day, he saw Ntsuape throwing his hands over the seat of the driver which in the process, he managed to swing the car’s steering wheel until it overturned. Gabaitse also insisted that even if an inspection in loco (on site inspection of how the car is after it overturned in order to get best possible evidence ) was conducted, he will demonstrate how Ntsuape managed to get hold of the steering wheel. He explained that the handcuffs and leg shackles that the police use for controlling the movements of prisoners/accused persons are different from the ones used by prison officials. “People who were inside the car were thrown at different points because Ntsuape swung the car’s steering wheel.” Gabaitse also stated that he was constrained to comment with certainty if the minibus had a mechanical fault as alluded to by Ludick in his police statement since he was not the person driving it.
In his statement, Ludick said the driver was complaining that the minibus was not gaining momentum even if he tried to accelerate. Conversely, Gabaitse said from his observation, where he was sitting at the back seat of the minibus, he thought that the car was moving between 80 and 100 km/hour. Gabaitse therefore conceded that from his observation, the car was over-speeding since it was travelling between 80 and 100 km/ hour in an inbuilt area while the speed limit on the road it was travelling on is 60 km/hour. Gabaitse also said that he can’t recall if Mbatshi was speaking on his phone shortly before the accident happened. The case will continue on August 2, 3 and 4.