The state witness in the case in which six Mogoditshane Police officers are accused of killing Itally Setlampoloka have defended the six officers against any wrong doing.
When giving evidence in chief and also during cross examination before the Gaborone High Court, Detective Sergeant Lekang Masono said he suspected foul play as there is no evidence to suggest the accused persons could have staged suicide.
The six accused persons are Dithuso Dintwe, Patrick Gobotswang, Ranto Mmeleki,Tebogo Khutsafalo, Kabo Moffat Ramohibidu, Michael Ramhitshana all officers in Mogoditshane and are accused of the murder of Italy Setlampoloka in 2009.
Masono said when they examined the body at the crime scene it had no major injuries except small bruises on both hands and electric cable around the neck of the deceased connected to a tree.
Masona said the receipt of a dry cleaner and some shoe print cannot be used as evidence against the six officers.
He accused some of his colleagues who were tasked with gathering information at the crime scene of doing a shoddy job and gathered insufficient evidence which cannot be used in court to implicate the accused officers.
He said the late officer Sehunelo who was a crime scene officer and Inspector Mokwetu who were first to arrive at the crime scene were tasked with gathering information on what happened to the deceased. He said they failed to follow proper procedure as they failed to stop people from interfering with their investigations.
“There were many police officers during the first two days of investigations and the crime scene was full of different shoe prints. There was no mechanism in place which was used to separate the shoe print of the accused person from many police officers and people who had visited the crime scene, ”said Masona.
Masono said some exhibits which are before court cannot be pieced together to give court a clear answer against the accused persons.
Masona who was part of the first group of police detectives to visit the scene said the evidence before court is insufficient to link the accused person to the murder of Setlampoloka.
