Family rejects one of their own accused of murdering his sister

Obakeng Gonewe (40), accused of murdering his sister and harvesting her private parts into a three-legged pot in Moshupa, was rejected by family members during his bail hearing on Monday in a case presided over by Kanye Magistrate Court Principal Magistrate Reuben Sebetlela.However, the accused had pinned his hope on his maternal great grandmother, 78-year-old Kebelaetse Rantho, who was summoned to court to be asked if she will accommodate her grandson if given bail.Obakeng allegedly murdered his caregiver, who was also his sister, Lebogang Gaonewe, placed his body behind the pit-latrine, harvested his private parts and put them inside size one three-legged aluminium pot.The accused, said to be mentally incapacitated, maintained that he does not know what caused his sister’s death. He claimed that when his family searched for him after the incident, he thought they wanted to take him to a psychiatric hospital for a check-up.Disliking hospital visits, he ran away from home, only to later discover his sister was dead.Obakeng told court that his family takes advantage of his mental condition, alleging they obtained a restraining order against him in 2020 and chased him from their home, citing his refusal to take medication and his troublesome behaviour.He said his sister was his only guardian, often taking him for mental check-ups when he became unstable. He insisted that he could never harm her, as they grew up playing together and shared a close bond.Slowly walking to the dock with a blue shawl wrapped around her waist, the elderly Kebelaetse Rantho refused to accommodate her grandson even before settling properly inside.“O dirile tiro e maswe, o ka re hetsa rotlhe (He committed a gruesome act, and he could finish us all),” she said. Expressing her fear of living near him, she firmly stated that she could never take him in.The grandmother revealed to The Midweek Sun that another sister of the suspect had also rejected him and had filed a malicious damage case against him in June after he destroyed her laptops.She added that his immediate family had distanced themselves from him long before, even during his childhood when his mother was still alive. After his mother’s death, the family officially chased him away, but he kept returning home as he had nowhere else to go.The deceased’s post-mortem report revealed multiple bruises on her body and confirmed that she had been strangled to death, pointing to a violent struggle. Her father, a well-known traditional doctor in Moshupa, is reportedly devastated by the loss of his daughter.The deceased's cellphone was discovered hidden inside an old telephone directory. Police have since seized the device as part of their investigations but are yet to present their findings in court.In an interview with The Midweek Sun, the Director of the Botswana Institute of Rehabilitation & Reintegration of Offenders (BIRO), Mothei Sejakgomo, stated that in cases where suspects are rejected by their families, BIRO can step in to provide accommodation and facilitate court appearances.“We accommodate offenders rejected by their families while working on reconciliation processes,” Sejakgomo explainedHe added that so far, BIRO has housed more than 100 individuals, including school-going children and those fleeing family conflicts due to gender-based violence.

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Family rejects one of their own accused of murdering his sister