29 Dec 2015

The year 2015 was a mixed bag in the legal fraternity.  

Crime and Courts Desk however figures that the most victors among civil cases were HIV positive foreign prison inmates who the courts ruled in their favour that they should be provided with free ARV treatment, which has been the preserve for qualifying HIV positive citizen prison inmates.

Both the High Court and Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the applicants being BONELA and a Zimbabwean HIV positive inmate, Gift Brendon Mwale, who was represented by attorneys Messrs Friday Leburu and Kabo Motswagole.

On the other hand, robberies, traffic road accidents and killing of civilians were on the increase. Of particular concern, the shooting and killing of Fairgrounds chief executive officer Mr Michael Montshiwa in October this year at his Block 6 residence in Gaborone is another sad reality which shows how some people do not value human life. 

Three people have since appeared before the courts for the murder.

Still this year in August, four High Court judges were suspended for allegedly undermining Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo and bringing the judiciary into disrepute.

 The four judges are Justices Key Dingake, Modiri Letsididi, Mercy Gaarekwe and Rainer Busang. Meanwhile the quartet later challenged their suspension at the High Court arguing that it was unconstitutional but lost the case as the court ruled that President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama acted within his powers when he suspended them. 

 President Khama later on appointed a tribunal to determine the fate of the four suspended judges. 

A retired South African Supreme Court Judge, Craig Howie chairs the tribunal while its other members are justices John Foxcroft and Isaac Lesetedi. 

In accordance with the advice of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) President Khama recently appointed a substantive judge and two acting judges to replace the four suspended judges of the High Court.  

Mr Bashi Moesi was appointed the substantive High Court judge effective January 01, 2016. In addition President Khama appointed Mr Boipuso Tshweneyagae and Ms Jennifer Dube as acting judges of the High Court. In September the President appointed Mr Godfrey Radijeng as High Court judge on acting capacity. 

In another interesting case, a man who has lost his appeal against death sentence has applied for Presidential clemency. The 55-year-old Patrick Gabaakanye was found guilty of murdering a 74-year-old visually impaired man of Gamosusu lands near Metsimotlhabe in 2010. He was also jailed for five years for unlawfully injuring the wife of the deceased.

A more touching incident which left the nation reeling in grief happened on November 13, 2015. It was the demise of seven Matsha College students who were being ferried home in a council truck. The truck overturned near Dutlwe and five students were confirmed dead on the spot while two were confirmed dead at the clinic. The eighth student who was referred to a South African hospital for further medical treatment  died later.      

However the government has instituted a full scale inter-ministerial investigation into the whole matter. In the meantime, police in Molepolole arrested five people who took part in the December 17, 2015 riots which left Highgate Shopping Complex and Kemotse Bar broken and looted. 

The police linked the riot to an earlier court appearance of five men suspected to have killed Ms Nthabiseng Motlogelwa in October at Mphadithate, near Mogonono in the Kweneng District. Keagile Sekwati, Mojalemotho Mokate, Moetapele Kgololo, and Mosimanegape Moatshe as well as five other people who were not before the court are accused of killing Motlogelwa. They will appear again before Molepolole Magistrate Court on March 13, 2016.  

Meanwhile on November 11, 2015 Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo of the Gaborone High Court sentenced Boitshwarelo Tau to 10 years imprisonment for the murder of his boyfriend Senki Phuthego some four years ago.

The sentence followed shortly after Justice Dibotelo found the accused guilty of murder with extenuating circumstances.

Tau, who was 26 years old when she committed the offence, was accused of murdering Phuthego in Mahotshwane settlement near Mabutsane, after hitting him three times with stones on the back of his head on August 27, 2011. 

He died two months later on October 08, 2011 at Princess Marina Hospital in Gaborone where he was hospitalised in the Intensive Care Unit. 

In yet another interesting development, ruling on Sebele Mall Filling Station armed robbery case has once again moved to February 08, 2016 after one of the accused failed to appear for the second consecutive time. 

Golwelwang Efedile, who is charged alongside Joseph Gaie and Bampoloki Kgangpetsa for armed robbery of the Northend Filling Station on February 05, 2012, is now a wanted man and his absence has adversely affected the progress of the case.     

 

In the meantime, in September this year, Francistown Principal Magistrate Sijabuliso Siziba sentenced a 63-year-old headman in Masunga to six years imprisonment after being found guilty of incest. He fathered a child with his biological daughter. The offence happened in October 2008.   Ends