‘Pastor Mboro’, co-accused to spend week behind bars

The trio faces an array of charges, ranging from kidnapping, possession of prohibited firearms, and assault, relating to the incident at the Matsediso Primary School in Katlehong.

They appeared in a packed room, while security around the court had been reinforced by public order police, crime wardens, and Ekurhuleni metro police.

Motsoeneng, his bodyguard Clement Baloyi, and Motsoeneng’s relative; who cannot be named to protect the identities of the children at the centre of an apparent custody battle; were arrested on Monday after a video depicting them waving a rifle and pangas went viral.

In a subsequent video, Motsoeneng claimed he went to the school to rescue his relative who had allegedly been assaulted and held against his will.

READ MORE: 'School children' burned Mboro's church – eyewitness

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane explained that they received five dockets from Monday’s altercations, and a decision was made to combine them.

They included the complaints laid against Motsoeneng, a counterclaim by the children’s maternal relatives, and a charge against a male suspect accused of assaulting the station commander at the Katlehong police station.

“The state has been postponed until 16 August so that it can prepare for the bail hearing. We still have outstanding investigations regarding the bail application that they want to bring before court, and amongst those is the profiling all accused persons, and the verification of their addresses.”

LONG-STANDING BATTLE BETWEEN FAMILIES

Khadi Hlalele is the maternal relative of the two children at the center of the custody dispute that allegedly sparked the altercation at the school.

She said the incident was a culmination of a longstanding battle that the police failed to prevent from escalating.

“This case leaves us overwhelmed; we are tired. We can see that the justice system fails people, and it has failed us. This is not the first time we report him [Mboro] to the police over these children.”

Hlalele claimed that the school incident followed an earlier attempt by the maternal family to reach the children after they had been taken from their school by their paternal relatives without any prior arrangements or consent.

“There is a younger child who stays with us, but he doesn’t come for that child because he just wants drama. These children have always stayed with us, they never lived with their parents or Mboro. Even when their mother died their grandmother had fetched her when she noticed that she was unwell.”

She said they went to Motsoeneng’s home last week Friday, where they were threatened and chased off with the same pangas.

Two more accused, who are the children’s maternal relatives, appeared in the same court on a related matter. They too cannot be named to protect the children.

They were also arrested after Motsoeneng pressed counter charges, accusing them of assault and intimidation.

The male suspect is also charged with allegedly assaulting the station commander during the commotion between the two families that was also recorded on video.

The pair were granted R1,000 bail each and warned by the magistrate that they should not intimidate witnesses or go to the complainant’s residence.  

Their case was postponed to 10 September.

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