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By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI

Two siblings were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder by the North West High Court on Tuesday. Gopolang Maoka (36) and Moleko Maoka (37) were arrested for plotting Segwagwa Modiegi’s death.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson, Henry Mamothame said the accused who are related to Modiegi (64), were charged with murder, robbery and two counts of fraud.

“The Maoka brothers worked and stayed together in Kathu near Kuruman. The investigations revealed that the two were renting from the deceased and upon retirement, he moved to Seoding village where they all originate from.

“Modiegi left his premises under the care of Maoka brothers and among other things, they were responsible for collecting rental money from other tenants to send it to the deceased,” he said.

Mamothame further said upon realising the amount of money accumulated from rentals, the two brothers driven by greed, convinced each other to operate the business for themselves. He said the accused felt that the deceased was an obstacle in their quest to own his business and they conspired to kill him.

“On 7 January 2017, the accused arranged a meeting with the deceased under a false pretense of a family meeting in Seoding. They then left Kathu on the set date after knocking off from work and went to Seoding, where their plan was to be executed.

However, their cousin back in Seoding where the meeting was supposed to take place was not aware of their presence in the village. As planned, they called the deceased person to meet with him at their cousin’s house where the family meetings are usually held,” said Mamothame.

He said the accused waited for Modiegi in the bushes where he was supposed to pass through and they gruesomely murdered him by bashing his head with a huge stone and robbed him off his two cellphones.

Mamothame added that the deceased was discovered the following day with his face and head crushed and brain scattered.

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“Evidence led in court by the investigating officer, revealed that a few months prior to executing the murder, the accused insured the deceased person with Nedbank as well as Assupol with an intention of cashing up on the two policies after murdering him.

“The family of the deceased was instructed by the police to refer anyone who requested the death certificate to the police. Following this instruction, investigations led to the arrest of Moleko Maoka on 17 January 2017 whilst making inquiries about the death certificate of the deceased with the intention of claiming from the insurance companies,” Mamothame said.

He added that Moleko eventually disclosed his reasons for inquiring about the death certificate and he also confessed to the entire plot of murdering the deceased to make financial gains on his rental property.

Mamothame said investigations further led the police to Kathu village on 23 January 2017 and the rented apartment belonging to the accused was searched and a blood stained pair of shoes were seized by the police.

“The forensic results positively matched the bloodstains to that of the deceased.

The two were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and 15 years for robbery. They were however acquitted on the two charges of fraud. Judge Gura emphasized that in killing the deceased who was 64 years at the time, their conduct was motivated by greed and as such an innocent life was lost.

In mitigating for maximum sentence, Advocate Cain Nontenjwa argued that this dreadful murder was premeditated and driven by greed, therefore warranted a maximum prison term, to which the judge concurred.

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