23 Oct 2017

Five accused persons who have been languishing in jail for over a year after being arrested for allegedly robbing former Tati West MP, Mr Charles Tibone have been freed on bail after they pleaded with Magistrate Faith Dlamini-Ngandu to vary their bail conditions.

Appearing before the Broadhurst Magistrate Court on October 19, the five, Moagi Letsholo, Joseph Ngayaya, Thabani Sibata, Professor Shumbula and Unoda Montshiwa said they had failed to raise the P10 000 which they each had to post as bond for their bail.

Pleading for the varying of the condition pertaining to the bond, Letsholo said he had failed to raise the amount as it was too high.

He said he was unemployed as stated in the charge sheet, and before he was apprehended he relied only on building jobs to make a living.

For his part, the second accused person Ngayaya also complained about the P10 000 bond money, saying it had proved difficult to raise it.

He said he had since managed to raise P8 000.

Ngayaya thus pleaded with the court to either accept the P8 000 or release him on bail and allow him to raise the remaining P2 000 while out on bail.

Montshiwa also pleaded for the court to consider varying the condition on the bond amount.

He too said he had lost hope of being able to raise the amount as his efforts to get friends and relatives to help him had drawn a blank.

On the one hand, Zimbabwean nationals Sibata and Shumbula, who are in court alongside the three Batswana men, also drew the court’s attention to some concerns they had.

Sibata, who likewise pointed out that he had failed to raise the bond money, also told Ms Dlamini-Ngandu that the police had lost his passport and that he needed them to foot the bill for the acquisition of a replacement.

He informed the court that the police had, after losing the passport, taken him to the Zimbabwean embassy where they made an affidavit that the said passport was lost whilst in their custody, an act that facilitated him being issued with a temporary travel document.

Making his own plea, Shumbula asked the court to order prison officials to assist him, saying he had been assaulted by the police but that the prison officials were not duly assisting him as they did with other prisoners.

He said the assault by the police had resulted with him losing hearing in one of his ears.

Responding to the submissions by the accused persons, the prosecutor Mr Mmapatsi Tshimologo of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said the prosecution was not opposed to the bail condition on the bond money being varied as they were mindful of the fact that the accused had been in jail for over a year.

He said they were also mindful of the fact that the accused were presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

Mr Tshimologo implored the court to take a decision that it deemed appropriate on the matter, noting that in any case the responsibility to vary bail conditions lied with the magistrate.

As for the third accused, Mr Tshimologo said he would get the Investigating Officer (IO) to ascertain the veracity of the temporary travel document that Sibata had furnished the prosecution with, with the relevant authorities.

As for Shumbula’s request, the prosecutor also implored the court to issue an order instructing prison officials to render the accused what he needed.

Ruling on the request by Sibata and the three Batswana accused persons, Magistrate Dlamini-Ngandu said the court had considered the plea of the accused and had thus cancelled the original bail conditions and replaced them with new ones.

Reading out the new bail conditions, the magistrate ordered the accused to appear in court on all set dates without fail, as well as to not commit any further offences whilst on bail.

Regarding the bond, Ms Dlamini-Ngandu said the P10 000 bond money would still stand, but that it would only be payable in the event that the accused persons violated any of their bail conditions.

She also ordered the accused to each produce two qualifying citizen sureties who would each bind themselves with P10 000 payable in the event any of the set bail conditions were violated.

She also ordered the accused to each report to Broadhurst Police Station each Friday as well as to not leave Gaborone without the consent of the prosecution.

Regarding the third accused whose stay in Botswana is yet to be ascertained, Magistrate Dlamini-Ngandu ordered that he be further remanded in custody.

The particulars of the offence are that the on or about the May 4, 2016 in Phakalane in Gaborone, acting jointly and in consent stole from Mr Tibone property including an IPad valued at P20 000, an IPhone worth P11 320, Samsung cellphones S5 and S6 worth P11 242 each, a Blackberry cellphone worth P2 600.

The accused allegedly also took a Rolex wrist watch worth US$16 000, a Chupardy wrist watch worth US$11 000, a Cartier wrist watch worth US$6 000, a Swiss army knife whose value was not stated, as well as cash amounting to P2 000 and R2 000 respectively.

It is alleged that the accused persons used violence to obtain the said properties.

They will appear for their next mention on November 2. ENDS