07 Mar 2022

An appeal by murder convict, Keamogetse Matakata was dismissed by the Court of Appeal on Friday.

The applicant was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment for murder  with extenuating circumstances by the Francistown High Court on October 4, 2017.

Particulars of the offence are that on August 4, 2012, Matakata murdered Tshepo Mafikeng at Ramogale ward in Serowe.

Dismissing the application, Judge Leatile Dambe said following his sentence, the convict filed for an application for leave to appeal out of time on September 9, 2020, three years after his sentence was made.

Judge Dambe said in his grounds of appeal, the applicant complained that High Court Judge erred in sentencing him to 30 years imprisonment.

He further indicated that the sentence was not backdated to the date of his remand in custody.

Court of Appeal also noted that the application was made after the time for lodging an appeal following delivery of judgement had elapsed by a period in excess of six months.

For the application to succeed, court said the applicant must show that there were exceptional circumstances for the delay and that strong prospects of success exists. Judge Dambe said the applicant was convicted of murder where extenuating circumstances existed. She said High Court judge considered that the applicant was a first offender.

The Court of Appeal also indicated that the High Court considered as a mitigatory factor, that the applicant was the father to the victim’s three children,  therefore in the absence of their mother, the children would rely on him for emotional and material support.

However, in relation to the circumstances of the case, Judge Dambe said the High Court established that the applicant committed the offence in a gruesome manner by hacking to death with an axe a heavily pregnant Mafikeng in the presence of children, therefore the court was right to consider the act as an aggravating factor.

“In considering what appropriate sentence to impose, the trial court adopted the right approach that cannot in any manner be faulted,” said Justice Dambe. ENDS