13 Sep 2020

Chief magistrate Ms Basetsana Keakantse on Friday acceded to the prosecution’s request to re-merge the trial of the trio, Mothusi Ghannie, Arnold Rapholo and Boikobo Tumisang, who are accused of using violence to rob one Jack Moilwa in Lefhoko village in 2015.

The prosecutor, Inspector Lorato Chabaetsile said the prosecution was forced to apply for separation of trial after the third accused, Tumisang disappeared without trace in October 2017 after only giving a statement.

“The three accused persons had given statements and Ghannie and Rapholo indicated that they did not intend to call any witnesses while Tumisang indicated a wish to call one witness. While we were still waiting for him to do so, he disappeared without trace and a warrant of arrest was issued but we failed to locate him,” she said.

Inspector Chabaetsile said that after giving up on finding him, the prosecution then applied for separation of trial, so that the other two accused could be tried, and as the matter was about to conclude the third accused was then nabbed, which led to the prosecution calling for re-merging of the trial.

In his defence, Tumisang expressed his shock at the submission by the prosecution that they failed to locate him. 

He said that he last saw the prosecutor in 2017 after serving sentence for another matter and that he duly enquired from the substantive prosecutor, Inspector Edwin Supang on the status of the current matter.

“He then informed me that they decided to strike me off the case on the basis of my statement, as well as that of the second accused who had stated that he was forced to implicate me on the matter,” he said.

He said that with the thought that he was now a free man, he went to live with his sister in Palapye to nurse him as he had contracted tuberculosis in prison. He indicated that he also availed his contact numbers to the prosecutor in case they needed him in future.

However, Magistrate Keakantse said that the allegations about being informed by the prosecution that he had been exonerated of any wrong doing could not be true as the said prosecutor was the one who had been calling for postponement of the case on numerous occasions on the grounds that they were still looking for the accused.

She said that the prosecutor also the one applied for separation of trial after failing to locate the accused for two years, and that court records also indicated that the accused had attended court after the date that he said he was told that he was a free man.

She also ruled that looking at his history, Tumisang was a flight risk and was likely to abscond on his next date in court hence the need to revoke his bail. 

Ms Keakantse also said that looking at the fact that the case was about to conclude, the other two accused person were unlikely to suffer any prejudice. 

She therefore acceded to the prosecution’s request to re-merge the trial. 

The prosecution was also ordered to serve the third accused with written submission before October 5, while he was expected to do the same before October 29 with trial resumption set for December 3.

The trio, are accused of acting jointly and using violence on Moilwa by hitting him with the back of an axe and tying his hands and mouth with a cloth before robbing him of an assortment of property valued at over P4 500. Ends