Rosie Motene ‘attacker’ tried to apologise

The son of high-flying tycoon Ophaketse Gaobakwe, Bissau spoke to The Sowetan from the comfort of his five-star hotel in Johannesburg, where he gave his account of the incident in Gaborone.

“I was out with my girlfriend and friends. We were sitting at the bar and a guy splashed us with alcohol,” he said.

“We confronted him and there was a commotion. I grabbed him, slapped him once and told him not to do it again. Rosie was standing behind him and I suspect she was elbowed by him by accident while we brawled.”

The publication reports that Bissau played them an audio clip of a radio interview in which Motene says she was injured by accident and explains that she’s mostly offended because he never apologised.

Says Motene in the clip: “The blow was intended [for] the person sitting next to me and unfortunately landed in my face and popped my nose. I never said he came out to hit me. What I did say was that when he was told he hit a woman, he did not seem interested in apologising.”

But, according to Bissau, he did attempt to do so.

He claims: “I never met Rosie before. I don’t know her, but she got hurt and that is our concern.

“We even went to the SA high commissioner in Botswana on Monday to send our apologies because she got hurt in some sort of commotion that we were involved in. I could not contact her directly as the situation is sensitive.”

When told of Bissau’s statement, Motene reportedly asked whether he admitted that “what he did was wrong” but refused to comment in light of an upcoming meeting with a legal team.

– TEAMtalk Media