05 Dec 2017

 Chief Justice Mr Maruping Dibotelo has Friday (December 01) sentenced two men accused of the murder of a Deluxe Cabs driver to death by hanging after he declared that he could not established any extenuating circumstances in the matter.

Delivering the sentence in unusually fully packed courtroom, where both relatives of the condemned men and those from the victim swamped the court, Justice Dibotelo said the first accused Matshidiso Tshidi Boikanyo during his evidence in chief never indicated that he took alcohol and was at various places on entertainment which he claimed he visited on the fateful day nor did he ever said he was drunk.

Mr Dibotelo also said Boikanyo never said he smoked dagga which he traded with nor did he said he was under its influence on the day but said after entertaining himself with drinks with his friends he finally bought the services of a sex worker whom upon finishing with her, went home to prepare for his trip to South Africa the next day through ungazetted point of entry at Ramotswa to buy dagga stock.    

He also noted that Matshidiso at the commission of the gruesome offense was 28 years old and therefore there is no youthful exuberance as he was already classified as an adult and therefore could not be termed as extenuation circumstances.

With regard to Moabi Seabelo Mabiletsa he said his lawyer had submitted that intoxication from alcohol played part and that he never premeditated the murder and that youthfulness played a part in his role and that the deceased was killed in a spar of the moment.

 However Justice Maruping said there is no evidence that the victim was killed in a spar of the moment because it does not appear that the deceased could have disturbed them on their ill-conceived criminal plan and therefore had to get rid of him

He further said he does not agree that there was no premeditation because both the accused caused the victim to drive them several kilometres from Tlokweng and University of Botswana and killed him in Block 9 location in the west of the city and dumped him besides a road.

In addition the chief justice said Mabiletsa could not be classified as a teenager or young because at the time of the commission of the crime as he was almost 26 year old and therefore an adult.
He was 25 years and seven months old and therefore there is no youthful exuberance, which could have influenced him, he said

Furthermore the chief justice said there was no alcohol intoxication on the part of Mabiletsa because he said the person who was drunk that night was his former girlfriend, adding that even if Mabiletsa could have been drunk by the time he retired home from entertainment there is no prove of that particularly that he told the court that he slept at 7.45 p.m. while his former girlfriend said he came at midnight when the bars closed.Justice Dibotelo said this is one of the barbaric and uncalled for murder cases to happen in the country as the deceased Mr Vincent Mopipi was stabbed 44 times all over his body and these include stabbings by a butcher knife on body parts such as the back, head, tummy, heart, kidneys , hand and fingers, neck and spleen.

He therefore said he has no any other option except to sentence them to death by hanging by the neck until they die .
They have been advised to appeal in six weeks-time if they so wish.Mr Mopipi was murdered on the night of September 13, 2013 at Block 9 in Gaborone West after taking would be clients from Puma Filling Station in Tlokweng, who had initially called saying they wanted to be taken to University of Botswana but later changed their destination.

Boikanyo was represented by attorney Ms Dikeledi Dingake while Mabiletsa was represented by attorney Mr Kabelo Nkwe. The state in the matter was represented by Ms Sali Boitumelo from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) while detective inspector Mmilili Mashabile from Gaborone West Police Station was the investigating officer. ENDS