Mokgalo Sekobye, the former prime suspect in the ritual murder case of Segametsi Mogotsi, has finally been awarded his money by the government.
The government recently paid P300 OOO to Sekobye in damages after a long court battle in which he maintained his innocence.
The Sunday Standard is in possession of a letter from Sekobye’s lawyers, Doreen Khama, dated 25th March 09 which states that “we are releasing an amount of P100 000 being a portion of an amount paid by the Botswana Government being damages awarded to Mokgalo Sekobye in the matter between Sekobye vs. the state”.
Attempts to speak to Sekobye were futile as he is not in good health..
Some top crime investigators who requested anonymity said that “if the government has paid Sekobye this means that they should be fresh investigations to find the killers”.
They said it is unfortunate that the government had not yet released the Scotland Yard report which could assist in narrowing down the starting point for new investigations.
They maintain that since murder has no statute of limitations, the killers can even today be found and brought to book.
Lawyer Aphiri of the same law firm said that even though it is a “closed chapter”, the public still wants to know the truth about who murdered the innocent child.
The government hired Scotland Yard detectives to assist with investigations into school girl Segametsi Mogotsi’s murder.
A report, regarded as highly classified and written by Scotland Yard detectives, was never released and Aphiri maintains that the government must release the report to the public.
Aphiri said that they had initially asked for P500 000 in damages but the government settled for P300 000.
However, of that amount, Sekobye received only P100 000 after lawyers’ fees deductions gobbled up a total of P188 592.61.
The lawyers also retained P11 407.39 in their trust account “to cover all incidental costs that have not been verified” promising to handover whatever is left after a final reconciliation has been carried out.
