25 Jul 2014

The state and defence lawyers in the case in which Thabo Masilo is accused of two counts of rape and robbery have confirmed continuation trial dates which are July 30 and August 28.

The confirmation was made Thursday July 24, during Masilo’s regular mention where the court was to be updated on any development concerning the case. The case adjourned in May after two state witnesses: the complainant and her brother, testified.

In the last court session, the brother to the complainant urged the presiding officer, Village Chief Magistrate Mrs Linah Oahile-Mokibe to disregard defence lawyer’s insinuations that he was not a credible witness because the lawyer’s statement was not only misleading but also contemptuous.

Testifying under cross-examination from the defence lawyer, Mr Kgosietsile Ngakaagae, the brother said it was disheartening to hear Mr Ngakaagae alleging that he was a pathetic liar who had merely concocted events to incriminate Masilo.

The witness, who had previously lead evidence in chief, told the court in response that he positively saw Masilo who intruded into his house on the afternoon of August 9, 2012 at Phase IV in Gaborone because they fought before he escaped. He said the description that he gave the police about the assailant still holds water and nobody could persuade him to change it.

He responded that he had a choice to tell the police the description of Masilo according to how he saw him and not the basic physical features which Mr Ngakaagae said he could have told the police so that they may well easily locate and apprehend the assailant.

The witness, who had earlier on told the court that he was a businessman and trusts in God, acknowledged that Masilo has a prominent forehead (sekopo), flat nose and a bean-shaped head when looking him from the side. He however said he did not see such features when he was fighting Masilo because he was putting on a hat which ultimately fell as he escaped.

A father of three, who said he underwent unbearable trauma after the incident, saw that Masilo had an earring in one ear and that he was very brown, physically fit and of the same height as himself. He said Masilo also had the similar Dobbs hat he was putting on during the commission of crime that left his sister with permanent knife scars and his house splashed with blood on the floor and on the walls.

The court heard that the witness did not sustain any bruise or injury when he fought Masilo because he prevailed, though Masilo had a knife which he had just used to slash his sister and leaving her for dead.

He told chief magistrate that though his sister’s clothes were torn and were bloodied, he did not hand them to the police because when going through such trauma, there are some things which one might overlook. He nevertheless noted that he could not write in his statement that Masilo held a knife to his son's throat so that his sister could comply with his demands, because that will be mere hearsay.

When the case resumes, the investigating officer, Detective Inspector Mmilili Mashabile, and a medical doctor at Julia Molefe Clinic in Block 9 Gaborone, are expected to take the witness box before the state closes its case. The prosecutor is Mr Kutlo Tsekane from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions. ENDS