25 Aug 2020

Nata Magistrate Court will on September 9, make a ruling on the state application to have Polson Majaga, subjected to providing blood samples for forensic analysis.

Majaga, who is the Member of Parliament for Nata/Gweta is accused of defiling a minor. 

He appeared before the Principal Magistrate Keabetswe Majuta in Nata on August 25.

The State Counsel Kefilwe Jeremiah said the essence of their application was to seek order of the court to have the accused person subjected to a DNA analysis.

Ms Jeremiah said at the time the matter was reported, the victim was pregnant and they believe that it is important to subject the accused, victim and the baby to a DNA analysis.

The State Counsel further stated that the DNA test was relevant in that the offence was a sexual offence and there was a high possibility that the baby born on July 5, 2020 by the victim could be the biological child of the accused. 

She therefore said the court should consider their plea and grant them an order to have the accused subjected to providing samples for DNA analysis.

Opposing the application, defence attorney, Mishingo Jeremia said the application was not related to the charge that the accused is facing and it was just a speculative step taken by the prosecution.

He added that the application was also not properly put before court and was just an investigative step that was taken while the matter had already been registered in court.

The defence attorney further said it was not open to the state to charge someone and then go on an expedition to try and hunt for evidence against an accused person. 

He also noted that the case against the accused person was that of defilement, alleged to have happened between September 2019 and May 2020 and that he said was just a speculative case against the accused.

He thus said according to the charge sheet, the alleged defilement could have happened between the nine months period of September 2019 and May 2020. He said as such there was no reasonable relationship between the charge the accused is facing and the application for DNA analysis.

Another matter that the defence raised was the article on the matter that was published in The Voice newspaper dated May 15, 2020 and a video recording by the same publication on their facebook page dated May 17, 2020 which Mr Jeremia said spoke badly of the accused hence compromising delivery of justice.

The magistrate therefore dismissed the matter on the grounds that there was no formal application that was filed with the court on that matter. ends