Double Murder At Serule

Onalenna Kelebeile | Monday August 28, 2017 18:00

 

Narrating the horrible ordeal, the deceased girl’s mother Omphile Tautona, 33, said the suspect, who is still at large has been known to be the girl’s boyfriend and attempts had been made to separate them but in vain. She said it was evident that the man, age unknown, has been abusing the girl. He would take her to Selebi-Phikwe for many days and sometimes even went with her to his home in Tumasera where he would beat her up and threaten to kill and throw her body inside a well.

She said on the fateful day, the man had come earlier and asked to see her daughter, but she and her mother (the deceased old woman) told him that they did not want him in their home and that he should bring his parents so that the relationship issue could be resolved.

“He told us that the girl had sent him an sms ending the relationship, hence he needed the issue discussed together with the girl’s parents. My mother refused and ordered him away,” Tautona said.

He left only to resurface with a friend, who is also wanted by the police, when the family was asleep. He threw a stone on the rooftop before breaking the door with a spade and then forceably entering.

“The victims were sleeping in the bedroom while I and other children were in the sitting room. He rushed past us and proceeded to the bedroom where he murdered them,” Tautona said.

In a state of shock and the efforts to save her mother and daughter, upon hearing their screams, Tautona said she tried unsuccessfully to wrestle with the assailant but, he would simply push her away and she would hit the wall with her back.

“I could not escape either because his companion blocked the entrance and pushed me back inside the house. She said she continued wrestling the assailant who thereafter fled the scene.

“Had he wanted to kill me, he could have easily done so.

I did not even see what kind of weapon he used to stab my mother and chopped my daughter in the back of the head. My daughter died inside the house while my mother managed to walk a few metres as she attempted to call for help from neighbours, but collapsed and died just outside the yard,” she said.

She said she had in the past laid a charge of harassment with the police against the assailant, but with little assistance. The police said they were still looking for the assailant when he struck the family.

When The Monitor arrived at the family home at Mothowathubega ward, relatives and members of the community had gathered to ponder on what could have led to the horrendous ordeal.

The police had just left the scene and the family was cleaning the bloodstains and spatters. Assistant Superintendent Timothy Chaba of Serule Police confirmed the incident saying they received a report at around 11:50am from the girl’s parent.

“We went there and found the girl’s body lying in a pool of blood and discovered the old woman around the scene.

They were taken to Selebi-Phikwe government hospital where they were certified dead on arrival,” he said.

Chaba said they are still looking for the two suspects and denied there had ever been a report of abuse and harassment of the family prior to the incident.

He also said the suspect committed the offence when he was still wanted by the police for assault occasioning injury case. This is the third murder incident in Serule this year.