TEACHER ACCUSED OF MOLESTING STUDENT
Allegedly assaulted girl in 2018 but was never suspended
A teacher at Salajwe Primary School is accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old pupil at his school.
Standing trial before a special Gender-based Violence court in Molepolole last week, Mothusi Mathakgong was charged with indecent assault.
Commonly known as Balth, the 41-year-old Standard 7 teacher is said to have assaulted the young girl back on 14th September, 2018.
The Kanye native reportedly fondled the child’s buttocks and breasts before forcing her to touch his manhood. He is then said to have inserted his finger inside the girl’s vagina while making ‘romantic advances’.
Although the matter was reported two days after it happened, Mathakgong was not arraigned before court until May 2019. It appears he was never suspended either.
Testifying before court, an ex-colleague of the accused, Gaone Mokgaoganyi, said the incident took place after the complainant and suspect went catching doves together.
“The victim told me that Mathakgong called her from home to help him catch the doves. After catching the doves, they left them to fly. Mathakgong then touched her breasts and buttocks before inserting his finger in her vagina,” stated Mokgaoganyi, who has since been transferred to Sebele Primary School in Molepolole.
According to Mokgaoganyi, because the incident occurred on a Saturday and as she was alone at the teachers’ squatters, she waited till Monday morning to report the issue to the school head.
The school head and her deputy are said to have summoned Mathakgong to the office. However, according to a source at the school, he was never suspended and continues teaching at Salajwe to this day.
The complainant’s guardian also told the court the child claimed Mathakgong went to her a second time while she was at home and begged her to open for him but she refused, fearing he would force her to have sex.
It is further alleged the bespectacled educator later approached the girl and begged forgiveness.
Court also heard that the teenager, who was doing Standard 5 at the time of the incident, became distracted and lost interest in her studies soon after the suspected assault.
Now aged 16, the child has since become a mother, although Mathakgong is not suspected to be the father.
He remains out on bail, with his trial set to continue next month.
AFTER the high court dismissed the Kebonang twin brothers’ charges of money laundering in the NPF case last October, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has appealed the verdict.
High Court Judge, Zein Kebonang, was facing two counts of money laundering while his twin brother, Sadique, was charged with five counts of money laundering.
In October last year, Judge Phuthego ruled that prosecution had failed to submit enough evidence to convince the court that the charges levelled against the two had substance.
The judge further noted that the Director of Prosecutions and the Attorney General through their attorney, Mpho Letswalo, had struggled to direct and convince the court on how the applicants were charged. Judge Phuthego said, without evidence, the alleged criminal acts against the Kebonang brothers would be treated as mere hearsay by the court.
“Zein was alleged to have been involved in the opening of bank accounts that were used to transact the alleged funds. There is no evidence to support that the applicant knew or had reasonable grounds to suspect that the alleged money was from proceeds of a criminal act. Sadique had indicated through
their attorney, Mack, that the property in his possession, suspected to have been acquired from proceeds of an alleged crime, was actually acquired as payment for debt from one Bakang Seretse of Basis Points,” reads the ruling
Zein had applied for leave of absence from duty after he was charged. Recently, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) voted to allow Justice Kebonang to return to work.
Meanwhile, the DPP has questioned why Judge Kebonang was allowed back at work while their appeal was pending before court.
SUFFICIENT
Some of the DPP grounds of appeal are that the judges - Tafa, Gabanagae and Phuthego - applied the wrong standard in deciding whether the DPP had sufficient grounds to charge the Kebonang brothers.
The DPP has also argued that the judges erred in holding that there is need to disclose the predicate offence when drafting a charge of money laundering.
In his response filed on the 15th of January, the duo’s attorney, Unoda Mack, had indicated that the DPP had made a mistake to launch this appeal without leave to appeal obtained from the high court as required by the section 12(1) of the Court of Appeal Act. Mack said the appeal therefore stands to be dismissed or struck out with costs.