14 Feb 2023

Shapi Sebifelo who brutally murdered a man he accused of bewitching him and his family has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

Delivering the judgement on Thursday Justice Dr Godfrey Nthomiwa of Gaborone High Court said “this was a brutal murder where sticks and iron rods were used against a defenseless man in the dead of the night”.

He  said the 64-year-old man, mercilessly killed another man like a serpent only because of the skewed believe in witchcraft.

Justice Nthomiwa said Sebifelo committed the offence believing that the deceased had bewitched and killed his family members and that he was next.

As such, he said, the thought of being killed by witchcraft weighed heavily on the convict and must had thought that the only way of stopping his own death was by preempting the deceased and killing him.

“It was that strong believe in that practice that propelled him into committing the offence that he did,” Justice Nthomiwa said.

Nonetheless, he said the court took note of the fact that the accused was a first offender who never had a brush with the law.

Justice Nthomiwa noted that Sebifelo was also from a rustic and disadvantaged background and that the offence was not premeditated.

In addition, he said Sebifelo was now advanced at age, having been 53 years old at the time of the commission of the offence.

Justice Nthomiwa also said the court had found that extenuating circumstances existed in the matter, saying it was also clear from the evidence that Sebifelo had a misunderstanding with the deceased, arising from crops which the deceased’s cattle had destroyed.

Also there was evidence that the convict had taken alcohol and must had been drunk when committing the offence, he said.

The offence of murder carries death sentence but where extenuating circumstances are found to exist the court would impose a sentence other than death,” he said.

Hence Justice Nthomiwa sentenced Sebifelo to 15 years imprisonment, of which a period of twenty-two months in which he was held in custody shall be subtracted.

Sebifelo was found guilty of  murdering Gaoratwe Kgosithebe at Shonono settlement in the Kweneng Administrative District on May 02, 2012. Ends