26 Sep 2022

A former police officer, Emmanuel Mmoloki has been sentenced to five years imprisonment for stealing guns from the Botswana Police Service armory.

The convict, who was charged for stealing by servant, pleaded guilty to stealing 20 service pistols, seven shotguns and 200 pistol ammunitions from his employer.

In passing the sentence recently, Extension II Magistrate’s Court Senior Magistrate, Mr Lentlhabetse Willie said Mmoloki committed a heinous crime of breaching trust placed upon him by his employer and society.

Worse still, the convict was careless with the firearms and ammunition as he armed untrained members of the public, magistrate said.

“The flock that he was meant to shepherd, he had devoured,” stated Magistrate Willie.

In stealing the guns, he said, the convict deployed a sophisticated tactic to avoid being caught by superiors by providing them with wrong figures.

This, he said, showed a serious breach of trust placed upon him and that attracted a severe punishment.

Magistrate Willie said Mmoloki had no regard to whether the firearms and ammunitions would land in the wrong hands, despite being employed as police officer nor did he appreciate the value attached to the guns.

He said although the convict’s counsel, Mr Tumelo Tshweneetsile had advocated for a non-custodial sentence owing to his client’s conduct and remorsefulness, the case was unique as it involved a law enforcement officer who committed a serious breach of trust.

Therefore, he said Mmoloki could not escape custodial sentence and said he would nonetheless temper justice with mercy.

Magistrate Willie said the court would take into consideration that Mmoloki was aged 32 years at the commission of the crime and youth exuberance could had contributed.

Further, he noted that the convict had four defendants among them, a sickly father and two children he looked after, he had also lost his permanent and pensionable job and was highly unlikely to be employed back into the government system or any related job.

He further stated that Mmoloki was a first offender and had pleaded guilty to the charge.

However, the magistrate said the offence he faced attracted up to seven-year imprisonment term but sentenced him to five years imprisonment.

The court also  ordered that the recovered guns and ammunitions be returned back to the government.

However, Mmoloki’s counsel, Mr Tshweneetsile said that he would appeal the sentence, which he said was harsh for a convict who pleaded guilty to the charge and had cooperated with the police, which led to the recovery of the stolen guns.

The state was represented by Mr Ambrose Mubika of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions. ENDS