The Molopo Magistrates’ Court denied Agnes Setshwantsho (39) bail and her matter was postponed to 28 March 2024, for further investigations. The court ruled that she failed to prove any exceptional circumstance for her to be granted bail. The accused is facing a charge of murder, two of fraud and one of defeating the ends of justice. The South African Police (SAPS) reported that on 16 November 2023, an intelligence operation led to the arrest of the accused on suspicion that she murdered her relatives to benefit from insurance claims. The suspect was traced and arrested in Centurion, during a takedown operation led by the SAPS in collaboration and full cooperation with an insurance company.
The police further reported that in the past two months, Sergeant Keshi Mabunda, and a team of detectives have been working on the case following a tip-off from relatives of this suspect. Through analysis and collection of evidence, including the exhumation of two bodies, the team was able to link its latest suspect to the team’s first focus of the case. According to the police report, the murder that was initially ruled a “natural death” happened in Mmabatho, in the North West, where a female relative died under mysterious circumstances in March 2023.
Investigations have revealed that the suspect fraudulently took out insurance, on behalf of her relative before her murder. Police are conducting further investigations, with the possibility of adding more charges against the accused.
The Director of Public Prosecutions in the North West together with the National Police Commissioner, General Fanie Masemola, welcomes the court’s decision to deny the accused bail. We are confident that the prosecution and investigating team led by Adv Dalton Tshinyani and Sergeant Mabunda is hard at work to ensure that we build a watertight case that will secure the conviction of the accused. We cannot rule out the possibility of adding more charges as investigations are continuing. We owe it to the victims to secure a lengthy conviction. This case should form a deterrent and a lesson to those who are involved in policy fraud, in that they will be caught and made to account for crimes that they may have committed.
Meanwhile, the accused will remain in police custody until the matter is concluded.
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