A 54-year-old man of Letlhakane village in the Boteti Sub District on Monday pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder before Francistown High Court Judge Zibani Makhwade.
According to the charge sheet, on the 20th of September in 2008 the accused, Gabakgone Badirile murdered one Baweni Muxerepi of Letlhakane village after a quarrel in a shebeen.
Giving evidence in court on Monday, a state witness said that on the 20th of September in 2008 he was drinking traditional beer with Badirile in a sheebeen in Letlhakane village when the deceased came and kicked the beer they were drinking after a brief argument.
“I was sharing traditional beer with Badirile and the deceased just came and kicked our beer bottle after a brief argument ensued between the two. The two were arguing in Ikalanga language and I do not understand the language,” he told court.
He said that after the drama, Badirile left and indicated that he was going home, but shortly returned, accompanied by his son. The accused then started hurling insults at everyone in the shebeen. He said that the deceased who was by now dancing, left the shebeen and headed to a nearby bar and Badirile followed him.
“After a while there was a report that someone was lying outside the shebeen only to find that it was the deceased. The Police were then summoned and the deceased was lying in a pool of blood where he was then taken to the hospital and certified dead,” the witness added.
However, during cross examination the lawyer representing the accused, Ofentse Khumomotse of Gaborone based law firm, Khumomotse Law Practice, grilled the witness, accusing of not telling the court the truth as his oral evidence differed from the police statement.
“In the police statement you said that the deceased started kicking the accused and also kicked his beer and now in your oral evidence before court you only said that the deceased only kicked the beer. I feel that you are not telling this court the whole truth and I do not believe court should trust your evidence,” he said.
In his reply, the witness maintained that it is possible that he mixed up some of the facts as the incident happened several years back.
The state is yet to call three more witnesses as the case continues. Modisa Kebonyemodisa of the DPP represents the state. The accused is currently on bail.
