A 67-year-old man of Tutume in the Central District pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder leveled against him before Francistown High Court Judge, Abednico Tafa last week. It is alleged that Julius Monyatsi of Magapatona ward in Tutume killed Dzene Phate on the 25 of February in 2007 by slashing him with a machete. Leading evidence, one of the state witnesses told court the accused who was a good friend of the deceased came in the dead of the night indicating that he needed to see the deceased who was sleeping.
“He found us with the daughter of the deceased and demanded that we call him and we told him it was late,” said the witness.
The witness pointed out that Monyatsi went ahead to go and wake the deceased. He finally met with the deceased and demanded that he give him his knife. He also told court that a war of words erupted and the deceased tried to shield himself from the accused. The witness tried to calm the two men down and finally he had to run for help.
“I do not know exactly what the accused was using to strike the deceased because it was in the dead of the night and there was no light,” the witness told court.
He indicated that after a long struggle of the two men, the accused produced a shining object and he felt compelled to settle the two men. He added that the shiny object finally fell to the ground and realized it was machete. The witness also told court that by the time he reached for the object the deceased screamed in agony that he was stabbed and he fell to the ground where he bled profusely.
“He tried in vain to wake the deceased indicating that he will go ahead to kill him,” said the witness.
The witness also revealed that he called people for help and Monyatsi continued to reinforce that he has killed the deceased and they should go ahead to call the police.
The case continues.
