30 May 2021

The Maun Magistrate Court has sentenced Tuajoruavi Maekopo, 26, to five years inprisonment for raping his 12-year-old cousin. 

Maekopo was facing a single count of rape which happened on February 26, 2016.

Sentencing the convict, chief magistrate Thebeetsile Molalu said he took into consideration the fact that the accused was a first offender.

He also said he considered mitigation factors by the defence attorney who said Maekopo was young at the time of the offence as he was only 20-years-old and a pupil at Maun Senior Secondary School. 

Chief magistrate Molalu said youthful exuberance was an acceptable plea.

He noted that the complainant’s parents were initially intending to punish the accused instead of reporting the matter to the police until the accused reported being assaulted by the complainant’s father.

Chief magistrate Molalu said the court considered the fact that the complainant was a minor at the time of the offence and that sexual offences were rampant in the country.

He, however, said the minimum penalty for rape was not applicable in the case and he sentenced the accused to five years imprisonment. He also said the 40 days the accused spent in custody should be taken into account.

The particulars of the offence are that Maekopo unlawfully had carnal knowledge of the complainant without her consent in Maun.

Maekopo had told court that he did not have sex with the complainant, and only helped her to sleep on a mattress as instructed by his aunt before she left them.

Maekopo also said he was forced to admit to the crime because the father to the complainant administered corporal punishment on him, saying he would beat him until he admitted to the rape.

In mitigation, defence attorney Mr Lesego Phoi of Phoi and Associates pleaded with the court to be lenient when sentencing Maekopo.

He said Maekopo committed the offence when he was still young.

“He hardly knew what he was doing and probably caught in hormonal youthful exuberance,” he said.

Mr Phoi said Maekopo previously lived a clean life and was the president of the Student Representative Council (SRC) at Maun Senior Secondary School. He later became a candidate in the 2019 elections under the Alliance for Progressives Party (AP).

Passing judgement, chief magistrate Molalu said the prosecution had proven that Maekopo had unlawfully sex with the complainant on the day in question.

The court, he said, was satisfied that the prosecution had proved their case against the accused. 

 

He said the complainant had told court that she slept with her two sisters on the same bed and was surprised to wake up on a mattress and feeling pain in her genitals. She said she woke up to find the accused on top of her with her panties and pajamas at her feet. ENDS