Category: Crime

Police in Serowe say their policing area has experienced a peaceful and calm Christmas holidays, apart from four cases of rape and another four of house-breaking.

Serowe Police acting station commander, Assistant Superintendent Mavis Ketshele said the law compliance rate was satisfactory in her policing area from December 24 to 28, with liquor outlets complying to stipulated liquor regulatory trading hours of 10am to 6am.

Ms Ketshele further said even though they recorded incidents of cellphones theft at festivals, people in her area of jurisdiction had experienced a calm festive season thus far.

Regarding Road Traffic Act violation, she said 30 drivers were charged for drunken driving and 84 for driving a motor vehicle without licences.  Furthermore, she said 73 motorists were charged for speeding and 23 for failure to obey road signs.

Assistant Superintendent Ketshele warned Batswana of unscrupulous individuals who moved around deceiving people under the pretext that they were borrowing vehicles for emergencies before disappearing into thin air with their vehicles. She said one person took two cars in Serowe with the same intent on December 26.

She further said a drowning incident was reported December 24 involving a 13-year-old boy at Kgamane ward in Serowe.

Nonofo Joseph, Simisane Outule, Boitse Nchime and Obakeng Modise on Wednesday appeared before Principal Magistrate Tebogo Nthuli of Francistown Magistrate Court for a single charge of stock theft.

The four were arrested by police on December 23 near Gerald Estate railway line after they were found skinning five beasts, valued at P37 000, belonging to Ms Girly Moyo of Chadibe.

The police said the accused allegedly used wire snares to trap the animals before killing them.

The fifth accused in the case is still at large.

The accused will appear again on January 29.

Police have confirmed that the human remains recovered along the Thamalakane River belong to the 12-year-old boy who was attacked and dragged into the water by a crocodile last week.

Maun Police Station Commander Superintendent Joseph Lepodise said the bones found on Saturday during the search operation were sent for DNA testing and a post-mortem on Monday. The results, he said conclusively matched the missing child.

The remains were discovered by search teams and were immediately secured for forensic examination to determine whether they belonged to the boy who disappeared during the crocodile attack.

According to initial reports, the child had been at the river with peers when a crocodile suddenly emerged, seized him and disappeared into the water before anyone could intervene.

Over the past several days, officers from the Botswana Police Service, the Department of Wildlife and National Parks and Botswana Defense Force conducted a coordinated search along the Thamalakane River in hopes of finding the boy or evidence pointing to his fate.

The community has been urged to exercise heightened caution around rivers and water bodies known to harbor crocodiles, especially during periods when the reptiles are active and human activity along the riverbanks increases.

Rape and defilement accused pastor, Goitsekgosi Mojadigo, who is also the leader of Divine Anointing Church International, failed to appear before Broadhurst Magistrate court on Thursday for a status hearing on the matter in which he and others are accused of interfering with witnesses.

Mojadigo, his sister, Serwalo, the mother of one of the victims and Tshepo Kgosiemang, who is said to be the victim’s boyfriend, are charged with conspiracy to defeat the ends of justice in in a case linked to rape and defilement charges against the accused.

While Kgosiemang is out on bail, Serwalo and the mother of one of the victims, had been in custody. However, court ordered that their bail application would take place on December 18.

According to the charge sheet, between January and September 2025, the four allegedly acted together to persuade the victims to sign affidavits aimed at preventing them from testifying against Mojadigo.

It is further alleged that Mojadigo deceitfully persuaded the mother of one of the victims to convince her minor child not to testify, an act prosecutors said was a deliberate attempt to derail the judicial process. 

Two people lost their lives in a road accident on Friday when a minibus they were traveling in overturned along A3 road just 20km away from Francistown.

Superintendent Boipuso Baatweng of Tatitown Police said the minibus, which was from Nkange to Francistown, had 14 passengers who sustained injuries, while two lost their lives.

The injured, he said were treated at Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital, while others had been admitted to Riverside Private Hospital, where they were still receiving medical attention.

Superintendent Baatweng explained that the driver was among those hospitalised with serious injuries.

Though investigations were still at preliminary stage, he said the information they gathered from some passengers was that the driver lost control of the minibus after overtaking another vehicle.

He appealed to A3 road users to drive cautiously more so that the road was still in bad condition and under construction.

Names of the deceased are withheld until their next of kin are notified.

A search operation for a 12-year-old boy from Old Disaneng ward in Maun, who went missing after a suspected crocodile attack in the Thamalakane River, continues.  

The search for the missing boy started on December 3.

So far, Maun Police Station commander Superintendent Joseph Lepodise said the search team had not been able to locate the missing boy since the day he disappeared on December 3.