THE FAMILY of a 21-year-old Mpho Jackson, who died together with a four-year-old child in a shack fire, has expressed their disappointment with what they called “sloppy” police investigations.
While Mpho’s 29-year-old husband, Tshepo Jackson, appeared in court on charges of murder after allegedly starting the fire, the charges against him were provisionally withdrawn in the Galeshewe Magistrate’s Court yesterday pending the conclusion of the investigation.
Jackson was charged with two counts of premeditated murder, attempted murder and arson.
Mpho was with the couple’s 18-month-old son and her cousin’s four-year-old son, Jayden Scheepers, inside the shanty at the time of incident on August 25 2018.
Mpho died on the day of the incident while the four-year-old died at Kimberley Hospital a week later.
Mpho’s 18-month-old son, Gosego Jackson, survived the incident but sustained burn injuries to his leg, hands and forehead.
Mpho’s family was yesterday in shock after the court announced that the accused would be released without bail.
The matter was withdrawn following outstanding police investigations.
Mpho’s grandfather, Gordon Xaji, said yesterday that the family was disappointed in the manner in which the case had been handled.
“We as a family supported and gave our full co-operation to the investigating officer (IO). We supplied him with all the necessary evidence as well as the eyewitnesses who saw the event. We are disappointed that the matter has now been provisionally withdrawn because the investigation was not completed. Where is the justice in this? There is not even another court date when the matter will proceed. The outcome is very sad, especially for us as a family,” said Xaji.
He accused the police of not treating the matter with the required urgency.
“The matter was continuously postponed in order to afford the IO the opportunity to complete his investigations. The IO even said in court that there was some evidence that he had to send for forensic analysis. We are not certain and doubt that he even did that. We do not have any proof that he even sent all the evidence for forensic analysis. Maybe he lied to us when he said that he had everything under control.”
Xaji added that although the family understood that the Justice Department was dependent on the IO, the matter was still a bitter pill to swallow.
“The court said it cannot keep the accused in custody for such a lengthy time while the investigation is still pending. We understand that the prosecutor or the magistrate cannot make a ruling without the IO concluding his work. The standard of criminal investigations in the country is very poor and now we have to sit with the pain of not only losing a loved one but the fact that justice has not been served,” he said.
Xaji vowed, however, that the family would not simply accept the outcome.
“It seems in this country one can just kill. We respect the law and are instructed not to take matters into our own hands, however, it seems like we are forced to do so.
“We cannot just let this matter go and we will fight it. We will approach the authorities involved to ensure that the matter is brought back to court and is resolved. We want justice for our child. There are two people who died in this incident and it cannot just be swept under the rug. We want justice to prevail.”
Mpho’s mother, Kedisaletse Thure, wept and said that it feels like the nightmare is starting all over.
Police spokesperson, Captain Bashaobile Kale, said yesterday that the matter was provisionally withdrawn as the police are still awaiting forensic results from the laboratory.