21 Dec 2014

Francistown principal magistrate, Mr Thebeetsile Mulalu has sentenced two Zimbabwean men to a suspended 18 months imprisonment term and six strokes each for entering and aiding 13 children to illegally enter Botswana through an ungazetted point.

When sentencing, Innocent Ncube (30) and Themba Gumbo (28) on December 19, Magistrate Mulalu said for each of the 14 counts, the 18 months imprisonment would apply and run concurrently but will be wholly suspended for a period of two years on condition that the duo would not commit a similar offence within that period.

He said the duo would also get corporal punishment of six strokes each after medical certification. Magistrate Mulalu explained that in sentencing the two accused persons, he took into consideration that they readily pleaded guilty, which he said was a sign of remorse.

He noted that the two were first offenders, their conduct was not akin to child-trafficking per se and even the facts revealed by the prosecution revealed that the duo were merely transporting the children to meet their parents in South Africa but it was only that they flouted the immigration laws.

Magistrate Mulalu said the case was the first of its kind in the jurisdiction of the court and he was hopeful that it will be the last. Earlier, the state Counsel Mr Gasemotho Pitlagano told the court that the two accused persons had no previous convictions.

In mitigation, Gumbo asked the court to be lenient in sentencing him because he was a first offender, had children that he was taking care of. He promised the court that he will never commit an offence again.

Ncube said he had a four months old baby that he was taking care of and the mother was not working, suggesting that instead of imprisonment, the court should sentence him to strokes so that he could be able to go back to Zimbabwe and continue fending for the baby.

Gumbo and Ncube were recently arrested by the Botswana police during a night patrol and they were found transporting 13 Zimbabwean children aged between three and 13 years in a Botswana registered minibus.

According to the facts of the case, the duo and the 13 children were not in possession of travelling documents and were on transit to Johannesburg, South Africa where the children were to meet their parents. ENDS