26 Jan 2021

Rape accused, Kebosaletse Matsonke of Tshube ward in Sekoma on Monday walked out of the dock at Jwaneng magistrate’s court in protest, after he adamantly told the court that he was not ready for commencement of his trial as he was not well.

Drama started when magistrate Caroline Kataba informed him that all was in place for the court to start his trial that day, but Matsonke, on being questioned whether he had any objections to that indicated that he was not ready as he was not feeling well.

He argued that he was a Sbrana Psychiatric hospital patient and that he was supposed to meet his doctor for a check-up this week.

The accused further pleaded for a postponement of at least a week. “I met my doctor sometime back and he informed me that if I am still not well I should get back to him this week, and I was planning just that,” he said.

Ordered to produce any document to support his case, Matsonke indicated that he did not have any in his possession as his medical card was left at prison.

Ms Kataba however, said it was not convincing that the accused could claim to have left a document so valuable to his case behind when he knew he would need it in court.

After a 10 minutes break, Ms Kataba said   she could not get any evidence that the accused was a patient of Sbrana hospital, and that throughout his many appearances, he never mentioned that before the court.

“All this time that you have been appearing for mention you never mentioned that, and there was never any suspicion that you might be mentally ill because it could have been picked just after the alleged committal of the offence, and the state would have automatically sent you for a psychiatric assessment,” the magistrate emphasised .

Ms Kataba put it to the accused that his efforts were only to stall the trial, something which she said surprised her as the accused had all along been raising concerns that the state was delaying the trial, and that he had during his various appearances been confirming his trial dates as suitable.

Matsonke however, insisted that he was a mental patient, and indicated that in his other previous rape trial a few weeks back, he failed to represent himself well because of his condition.

“It was very apparent in my previous case that I was hitting about the bush in my interrogation of witnesses. That was because I was not well, and I do not want to go into this case in that condition again,” he said.

When it was evident that Ms Kataba would not entertain the accused’s reasoning, he then walked out of the dock, with attempts my police and prisons officers to get him back failing.

Ms Kataba then warned him that should she postpone his trial, the closest slot she could get would be late in November, of which the accused indicated he had no problem with.

Ms Kataba then ordered the accused to be remanded in solitude for a week before his next mention.

“Solitary confinement would hopefully give your time to reflect without outside influence. Gender based violence cases are supposed to be expedited and you should not be playing such tactics,” she said.

The 45-year-old man is accused of having had unlawful carnal knowledge of his victim without her consent in November 2019 at or near Sekoma village. ENDS