07 Jun 2017

Three of the five defence lawyers representing murder accused in the Gaborone North Farms murder trial have indicated that they will apply for no case to answer.

The three are; attorney Wema Isa representing Lebang Thabo Ntesi, attorney Isiah Letlole representing Phemelo Tshelang and attorney Bokani Machinya representing Mpho Mangwa.

However, presiding officer, Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo ordered the three to file their application with the prosecution so that it could reply and come for the ruling on June 21, 2017.

When the state closed its case recently, Justice Maruping ordered that those who are intending to file no case to answer should be ready to make written submission when the court meet, but unfortunately none of the three attorneys had finished writing submissions when the court met this time around.

Standing trial are; Lebang Thabo Ntesi, Phemelo Tshelang, Gorata Humble Sebego, Patrick Gaile and Mpho Mangwa. All the accused are on bail, except accused number one, Ntesi who is in custody for a different offense.

According to the particulars of the offence, the five men who are 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 night watchman, Mr Olebogile Ramapulane, who was guarding at Tuwana Construction Site camp.

In the course of robbery, they stole items such as cellphones a Chinese passport which later came out to be a Chinese identity card, a laptop, a laptop charger and a diary. All items were admitted before court as part of evidence.

They were initially charged for attempted murder on Mr Liu Jian Hui. During attempt on his life, Hui was gravely injured and got admitted at Princess Marina Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. He has however left the country thus the charge has fallen.

The accused are therefore now facing only two counts. On the first count, the five are charged for armed robbery as the 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 murder charge in their second count.  

Meanwhile, prosecutor Mr Farayi Mahwite has informed the court that he will in the next court sitting brief it on the details and nature of the robbery that the fifth accused, Mangwa, has recently been accused of. He is said to have been given bail in one of the Gaborone Magistrates courts.

The outcome of the exercise will determine whether Mangwa has not breached any of his current bail conditions.

The prosecution team from the DPP is made of Messrs Mahwite and Sharpe Dubula, while defence team is made of Ms Isa, Mr Letlole, Mr Maswabi Mwando Maswabi, Mr Eddie Babuseng and Ms Machinya. ENDS