22 Apr 2025

 The prosecution’s efforts to have the Kopong murder case committed to the High Court for trial have suffered a set back.

This follows Magistrate, Ms Jobbie Moilatshimo’s ruling on Thursday acceding to the defence team’s request to have the committal application entertained after the holidays.

Oageng Moagi Letsholo, Leufty Gaolemogwe Kosie, Outlwile Aston and Kebaleboge Ntsebe stand accused of murdering the Barulaganye Aston in 2022, while Letsholo also faces an additional charge of raping the deceased.

The defence had argued that they had not had enough time to study the committal documents by the state prosecutor Ms Seeletso Ookeditse.

When filing the committal documents, Ms Ookeditse said the state was ready to commit the case to the High Court for the four accused persons to stand trial, adding that the state had a total of 27 witnesses and a list of exhibits to support their case. However, she said there were issues with the first accused person, Letsholo, relating to the items which were seized during the search operation.

“The first accused person is not happy saying some of the items are missing, we will present what we have if he is not happy, he will take the issues to the relevant authorities,” she said.

He said the items to be presented to Letsholo included laptop, coins, jewellery and two bags.

However, Letsholo expressed unhappiness over the items presented by the state, saying some were missing hence he appealed to the court to conduct a trial within a trial so that all those who were present during the search would give evidence of what they saw during the search.

Letsholo requested for the register of all the items seized during his search, saying such would assist the court to determine if indeed some his belongings were missing. He said he expected the investigating officer to take a stand and answer for the missing items.

He appealed to the court to determine the fate of lost items before the case could be committed to the High Court , adding that the High Court would not determine the whereabouts of his items.

However, Ms Ookeditse submitted to the court that the items in question had no bearing on the case being committed to the High Court, as the accused could explore existing avenues to recover his items.

“He can still pursue his matter even if the case is committed to the High Court,” she argued. ENDS