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Madiba said in a statement to police:  “My life is in danger as I don’t know when and how is he going to kill me.”

Moabelo’s firearm was handed back to him on 16 September, before the assault case had been finalized

Justice system failed them, says State

 

The justice system has failed two people. 

This was the State’s submission in their closing remarks of murder accused  Vincent Tebogo Moabelo’s (34) bail application last Friday in the Louis Trichardt Regional Court. Moabelo is accused of killing his ex-girlfriend, Ms Darlene Mapula Madiba (34), and her friend, Victor Mthokozisis Radebe (36), on 13 October this year.

During his bail application, a statement that Madiba had given the Makhado Police on 4 August was read into the court record. In it, Madiba wrote that Moabelo had tied her up and assualted her for four hours the previous night. “My life is in danger as I don’t know when and how is he going to kill me,” she had told the police.

With the assault case being investigated, Madiba was given an interim protection order against Moabelo and his gun was seized by the police. Madiba's doctor's report noted countless bruises on her face and body, as well as “limited movement on (R) arm” because she had been “tied up with a cable tie on (R) wrist for ±4 hours.” The doctor further noted that Madiba was “conscious and very emotional.”

For reasons unknown, Madiba failed to appear in court on 13 October, however, when the order would be made permanent - the day she was killed.

The State, in the application, confirmed that Moabelo’s firearm was handed back to him on 16 September, before the assault case had been finalized and, as a result, failed to protect her properly.

Moabelo said, by means of his attorney, Mr Desmond Mphaphuli, that he and Madiba had “smoked the peace pipe” and that he was at her house on that fateful day to pick up his belongings. He said that Madiba had assaulted him by hitting him over the head with a broken vase, and that he shot at her and Radebe in self-denfece. He fled the scene by forcing open the kitchen door and fleeing in Radebe’s vehicle.

Testifying for the State, who opposed the application, detective W/O Alfred Phaswana confirmed that the police had found no evidence of a broken vase or any signs of a struggle and that the kitchen door had been forced open from the outside.

Telephone records also showed that Moabelo had admitted to shooting Madiba and Radebe, shortly after the incident.

The State also confirmed that the prosecutor who had made the decision on Moabelo's firearm had received a notification of his diciplinary hearing last week.

Magistrate Kellerman, after the bail application was closed, reserved his judgment until 22 December. Moabelo will remain in custody until then.

 

Date:18 December 2014

By: Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

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