14 Feb 2021

Regional Magistrate (South), Mr Masilo Mathaka on February 11 ordered the prosecution to provide the defence team with further particulars in the Welheminah Maswabi case.

The move was made following the prosecution’s request to be offered an extension of time to fully address the defence application.  

The public prosecutor, Ms Priscilla Israel said the case was called for status hearing following the defence application requesting for further particulars on the matter.

Therefore, the prosecution requested for a month to have a detailed reply to the defence request.

However, Regional Magistrate Mathaka said the court was not clear on the request by the prosecution.

 “As per court records, you have already replied to the defence’ request. 

What exactly are you still investigating and how long will it take. Are you saying your reply to the defence request was insufficient,” asked Mr Mathaka.

Ms Israel said the prosecution was intending to further reply the defence request by providing more details.

“We had consulted and agreed with the defence team for the matter to be postponed for 30 days to put our house in order,” she said.

The defence attorney, Mr Unoda Mack has therefore requested that the prosecution’s request be made an order for the court to avoid unnecessary delays.

“We made an application for further details on January 12 and the prosecution responded on January 29. 

They must be compelled to provide the further details by order of court within 30 days,” said Mr Mack.

Maswabi was charged with three counts of possession of unexplained property, financing terrorism and false declaration of passport.

However the prosecution has since dropped the charge of financing terrorism, citing delays in gathering evidence and therefore proceeding with the other two charges.  

In their application, Maswabi’s attorneys have requested the court to note that in order to decide on how to plead or whether to accept the charges against the accused person, the Directorate on Public Prosecution must provide further particulars in relation to the amended charge sheet with two charges dated November 18, 2020.

On the charge of possession of unexplained property, the defence has requested clarity of whether the Director General of the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) had carried out an investigation into the suspicion that the accused person was in control of the pecuniary resources, which were disproportionate with her known sources of income or assets or some other carried out the investigation as stipulated on section 34(1) of the Corruption and Economic Crime Act.

On the charge of false declaration of a passport, the defence team stated that the charge alleged that the accused person on or about June 27, 2013 with intent to obtain a Botswana Passport, made a false statement to Tshegofatso Baletloa, an immigration officer, to the effect that her names were Lorato Hilton when in truth and in fact her names were Welheminah Mphoeng Maswabi.

The defence sought clarity on whether the alleged statement by the accused person to the said Baletloa was made orally or in writing. 

“If the statement was made in writing, a copy of such a document should be provided,” said the defence application. 

The defence also requested to know if it was a requirement for one to complete an application form when applying for a passport.

Therefore, the defence team requested a full copy of the investigation docket for the case which was forwarded to the DPP by the DCEC.

In their reply, the prosecution contended that the defence request related to issues on ongoing investigations and therefore upon completion of the investigations, the defence team would be served with all the necessary documents.

Furthermore, the prosecution stated that based on the outcome of the investigations, it had the right to amend the charge sheet to align the offence with the obtained evidence.

Consequently, Regional Magistrate Mathaka ordered the prosecution to serve the defence team with further particulars on March 11 and mention on March 15 for status hearing. Ends