16 Feb 2022

In one rare court occurrence, a 64-year-old man of Sekoma village was on Tuesday brought into the dock for an offence he had already served time for.

The matter, in which Mr Mosipidi Mothudi was ‘accused’ of rape, was brought before Jwaneng Magistrate, Ms Caroline Kataba.

Just after the facts of the matter were read out to him, the ‘accused’ rose to inform the court that he was released from prison last June, after serving a 10-year sentence for the very matter that he was brought to court for.

“I am surprised that after serving my sentence,  i am back here for the same matter,” said the astounded pensioner.

Equally confused, the magistrate indicated that she was about to enquire from the prosecution why they were bringing an accused to court now for an offence committed about 10 years back.

Ms Kataba was then forced to stand down the matter, while court officials checked records, which turned out in favour of the old man. 

But when the court wanted Mothudi called to give him the good news that he was indeed a free man, the ‘accused’ had disappeared. 

The court was left guessing as to whether the accused had misunderstood the instruction that records were still being perused and left or for fear of facing another 10 years in jail.

Meanwhile, the prosecution in a case in which Ms Ketshephaone Setlhare of Maokane is accused of infanticide called both her parents to give evidence in the trial, currently ongoing before Ms Kataba.

The accused’s father, Mr Steel Setlhare explained that his daughter came home for Gaborone in December 2017, for the festive season and then went back to Gaborone after Christmas.

He said the accused then came back on January 24, adding ‘when she arrived that day, I was home alone as her mother had gone to Jwaneng and only arrived late in the evening’.

Mr Setlhare indicated that around 4am the next morning, Ketshephaone borrowed her mother’s cellphone, to use to light in the pit latrine, as she had a running stomach.

“Her mother however, became suspicious when the accused took too long and called out to her, but the accused assured her she was fine. Then about 30 minutes later we had to wake up to prepare kids for school and when my wife was fetching water from the standpipe, she heard cries of a baby at the latrine and went to investigate,” he said.

Mr Setlhare said that his wife seemed to have suspected something because she called the police, who came and retrieved a foetus the next day. 

He said the foetus appeared fully formed and was a girl.

Under examination from the accused, he admitted the incident shocked him and so he might have written some things wrong in the statement, but said this could not have affected the general truthfulness of it.

The accused’s mother, Ms Kebareng Setlhare said that when the accused visited for Christmas she observed that she had gained weight and when she enquired if she was pregnant she denied. 

Ms Setlhare went on to give evidence that mirrored her husband’s, and added that that morning when she went to inspect the cries at the latrine, the accused tried to hold her back to explain, but she brushed past her into the toilet and saw some blood spots.

“I then called the police straight away and they came and took me and the accused to the clinic and finally the hospital where she was released the following day,” she said.

She said that it was only when she got home the following day that she learnt from her husband that the police came and retrieved a foetus from the latrine. 

The case continues. Ends