A 40-year-old man from Molehele Ward in Ditshegwana was on Friday arraigned before Urban Customary Court President, Dikwalo Monametsi, on a charge of common nuisance.
Goatweng Tlhalefang, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, was found by his daughters on the night of February 7, 2007 trying to hang himself with a rope in the house.
Leading evidence in court, Kabelo Sydney, one of the daughters, said that she was asleep with her younger sister when they were awakened by a thud in the house. She woke up to investigate and found a dustbin and saw her father with a rope around his neck. The father had fallen from the rafters. The younger sister also witnessed it and saw the father, still holding the rope, run outside and tried to conceal his actions.
Sydney said she was frightened and so was her younger sister who kept on crying. They could not sleep again inside the house with their father but reported the incident to a neighbour, Kgomotso Willie, who prepared accommodation for them in another house.
Tlhalefang met with Willie and never revealed what happened. But when Tlhalefang’s wife returned from work, Sydney told their mother who then reported to the police.
According to the mother, their relationship had been on the rocks since three years back. She intended to look for another house but would leave Tlhalefang.
“May be the misunderstandings could be the source of the attempted suicide,” she told the court.
The case was, however, postponed to February 20, 2007.
