22 Aug 2019

Broadhurst Magistrates Court will on August 27 deliver a ruling on whether or not to lift the suspension of the warrant of arrest that was issued against former Directorate of Intelligence Services (DIS) Director General, Isaac Kgosi after he breached one of his bail conditions.

Stating their case before Magistrate Tshepo Thedi on August 20, Kgosi’s lawyers had submitted that it was not in dispute that their client had violated one of his bail conditions, but argued that he had duly informed his attorneys that he would be unable to report himself to Broadhurst Police Station during the month of June due to him being outside the country on medical grounds.

One of the attorneys, Mr Unoda Mack said due to their client being in Malaysia to receive medical care, he had failed to report himself as required but that did not necessarily make him a fugitive as he  did not deliberately decide to remain outside the country with the intention to defeat the ends of justice.

Mr Mack stated that when he initially left for Malaysia on May 28, Kgosi had not anticipated that his medical condition would force him to remain outside Botswana for a longer period.

He said it was after his doctors’ assessed him that they had determined that his medical condition required that he needed to continue receiving medical attention for a bit longer hence he could not return to Botswana in time to report to the police for the month of June.

The attorney argued further that the prosecution’s problem was that it did not believe that their client was indeed in Malaysia despite the evidence that Kgosi’s legal team had provided to ascertain that.

Another of Kgosi’s legal representatives, Mr Thabiso Tafila said the state’s argument that the accused had willfully left the country without informing the court was unfounded as his bail conditions did not bar him from leaving the country.

Opposing the bid by Kgosi’s lawyers, the prosecutor Ms Thato Dibeela pleaded with the court to lift the suspension of the accused’s warrant of arrest as he had willfully disobeyed the order of the court that he should report himself to the police at least once monthly.

That Kgosi was still in Malaysia, Ms Dibeela submitted was neither here nor there, but what was key was that he had violated his bail conditions and needed to have his bail revoked.

She argued that should the court rule in favour of the accused, it would have applied justice selectively.

Thus, she beseeched the court to lift the suspension of the warrant of arrest and apply justice as fairly and as reasonably as would be expected.
Kgosi is facing charges of having leaked the identity of DIS operatives involved in a covert operation. ENDS