Man in court for killing his mother

Residents of Makobo village were left in shock last week after Dibebe Ngele (44) a prominent barber in Francistown was remanded in jail last week Thursday facing a single count of murder of his mother, Thandile Mbulawa (63) in Natale village.

Although the barber did not say much in court during his brief appearance before Magistrate Thebeitsile Molalu, a close family relative revealed that Ngele had followed his mother to a settlement called Japane upon which he convinced her to accompany him to Francistown to assist with an application of his Omang card.

“Along the way, the accused tied his mother with a rope attached to the tow bar and drove off dragging his poor woman on the ground until she was unconscious. By the time he stopped, the victim was still breathing and he took an axe and finished her off with a blow to the head leaving a big wound which left us suspecting that her brain must have been harvested for ritual purposes,” the family source revealed. He added that the accused had recently gone on a trip to Zimbabwe and Zambia where he allegedly learnt from some witch doctors that his mother was behind his troubles, sickness and swelling legs.

It turns out that it was not the first time a child of hers had accused her of witchcraft as those close to the family revealed further that earlier this year, Ngele’s younger brother had also threatened to kill the woman but was saved by other villagers. “The deceased then relocated from Makobo to Japane where the elder brother would later follow her. Tatitown Police Station commander Superintendent Cyprian Magalila confirmed the incident but declined to shed light on what might have transpired for Ngele to kill his own mother.

The police boss confirmed that the suspect handed himself to the police after committing the crime. The police, he added, found the deceased tied to a rope extending from the car, with a big wound on the head. Other barbers who worked with Ngele described him as a humble individual who did not drink or smoke. They expressed shock as they said he was a staunch member of the Gutaramwari church.

“A good number of people including myself saw the accused drunk over the holidays but brushed him off to be simply enjoying his off days with friends. When I confronted him about his new found habit, he told me that everything had a beginning and an ending; only to receive the bad news of him killing the mother after the holidays,” the barber said.