Maun family await answers as son laid to rest
The family of a Maun man allegedly battered to death by the police earlier this month have sought legal help as they fight to find out exactly what happened to their son.
30-year-old Keolopile Morolong Keolopile died on 3rd November; mystery still surrounds the father-of-two’s final moments.
The cops insist he succumbed after swallowing a sachet of drugs during a routine stop-and-search at Setata veterinary gate along the Sehithwa-gumare road.
However, sources claiming to have witnessed the incident tell a different story, maintain the police brutally beat Keolopile to death.
Desperate for the truth, the family have engaged popular criminal lawyer, Charles Tlagae, to get to the bottom of the sorry saga.
“Yes, I have been instructed by the family to represent them on the matter so we clear the cause of their son’s death. We are now dealing with law and not guesses or assumptions,” stated Tlagae, who was present during Keolopile’s post-mortem last Thursday.
Conducted at Maun’s Letsholathebe Memorial Hospital by a government pathologist, as well as Tlagae, a family representative, private doctor and the police were also in attendance.
“Government pathologists are professionals and they will tell us what caused the death,” assured the attorney, who was reluctant to discuss the post-mortem any further except to say the results are expected within the next three weeks.
Although Keolopile was laid to rest in Komana area this past Saturday, Tlagae revealed they would engage a private pathologist to conduct further tests if at all there are any doubts over the post-mortem results.
“We have samples in safe keeping in case more tests are needed to be carried out,” he explained.
According to the police, on that fateful day, Keolopile and two companions were stopped at the gate for a search.
The boys in blue say Keolopile refused to be searched and tried to fight off the officers. In the brawl that ensued, the cops claim Keolopile took one of the sachets in his pocket and swallowed it. He then collapsed and blacked out, the police maintained through their Public Relations Office.
It is an explanation Tlagae finds baffling in the absence of a pathological report.
“Dipheko Motube (Police spokesperson) pre-empted the medical findings, which was very wrong of him,” he said.
Keolopile was the only surviving son and youngest child of Nxaraga-komana Councillor, Morolong Mosimanyana and Kgaogano Mosimanyana. At the time of his demise, he was working for Unlimited Safari Tours.
Speakers at his funeral service, including his siblings, father, relatives, friends, colleagues, children - Yaya and Peo - and their mother, Seding Segadimo, talked about his jokes, his love for his family and his zest for life, including an expensive taste in fashion.
“Daddy, I miss you and I miss the tasty food you used to cook for us. Who will play with us?” was his little girl, Yaya’s heartfelt last message to her father, whose body laid lifeless in a coffin in front of her.
As the merciless rain poured down on Saturday morning, as though the heavens were weeping in a final farewell gesture, emotions ran high. Some cried hysterically for a life cut short while others openly questioned why the police did not show up to show solidarity.