18 Aug 2016

Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo on August 17, postponed the Gaborone North Farms murder case involving five men who allegedly committed the crime in August 28, 2013.
The adjournment came after one of the two prosecutors in the matter, Mr Farayi Mawhite from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) informed the court that defence lawyer, Mr Eddie Busang, representing the fourth accused, was absent due to his wedding preparations.
He said Mr Busang, had written a letter informing him that he would be indisposed for the next three days as he would be getting married and therefore said it would be unbrotherly for the prosecution to oppose the request for postponement of the trial to next month.
In the meantime, Mr Mawhite prayed the court to allow the prosecution to add seven more state witnesses, which it overlooked during case management conference with the defence in June this year.
These included among others; the doctor who prepared a medical report of one of the victims of the violent crime as well as a scene of crime officer who also compiled a photo album of the postmortem.  
The trial was initially set for August 17-19, 2016 and proceeds from September 5 to 7 before resuming again on September 10, 13, 14 and 15, 2016. The case would  further go on trial from October 17 to 19, 2016.
Standing trial are; Lebang Thabo Ntesi, Phemelo Tshelang, Gorata Humble Sebego, Patrick Gaile and Mpho Mangwa.
All the accused are on bail except Ntesi who was in custody for a different offense.
The five men, all residents of Oodi in Kgatleng District, on the night of August 28, 2013 at Gaborone North Farms acting together with a common purpose murdered one night watchman, Mr Olebogile Ramapulane, who was guarding the property at the residence.
In the course of their action, they also robbed their victim some property and police managed to recover some items which included a lap top and P15 280 cash.
They were initially charged for attempted murder on Liu Jian Hui, still at the same farm on the same day.  
During attempt on his life, Hui was gravely injured and got admitted at Princess Marina Hospital’s intensivecare unit. He has since left the country, therefore charges related to his case were dropped.
The accused now faced two counts, one being armed robbery where a sum of P20 000, a computer lap top, a navy blue blazer and a cellphone were stolen during the commission of the crime.
They pleaded not guilty to the charge.  Likewise they pleaded not guilty to the other charge of murder.
The prosecution team from the DPP is made of Messrs Mawhite and Sharpe Dubula while defence team is made of Ms Wena Isa, Mr Isiah Letlole, Mr Maswabi Mwando Maswabi, Mr Babuseng and Ms Bokani Machinya. ENDS