30 Mar 2023

Murder convict Nthoiwa Maxala has pleaded with the Court of Appeal to overturn the death sentence imposed on him by the Francistown High Court. 

Maxala was convicted of killing Tutume McConnell physics teacher Thuso Duncan Mulaladzi in 2015 following assault by a group of young men whilst relaxing inside his vehicle with a lady friend on September 13, 2015. 

After reporting the matter to the police and seeking medical help, Maxala is said to have later tracked down his assailants and shot Mulaladzi, who was among the assailants. 

Maxala was eventually convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 2021. 

Appearing before the Court of Appeal panel on Wednesday, his attorney Mr Reneetswe Rabosotho said they were not satisfied by the outcome of the trial court. 

“We are appealing against both the conviction and sentence,” Mr Rabosotho said. 

He said among their grievances was that the trial court erred in admitting the police warn and caution statement, whose recording and administration were done by different officers from those who presented it. 

Further, he said Maxala accidentally fired the bullet which killed Mulaladzi, as such he did not deserve to hang. 

Asked by the court to explain why his client tracked the assailants to Somerset with a loaded gun, he said Maxala went there in order to find an amicable solution to their earlier alteration. 

He further added that the trial court erred when concluding that no extenuating circumstances existed in the matter as his client was inebriated. 

“We conclude that provocation in this case will not be available to reduce the matter to manslaughter, but it should be considered as an extenuating circumstance,” he said. 

Mr Rabosotho further said the difference between the actual assault and shooting was three hours. 

He argued the deceased provoked the Maxala further when he insulted him and his parents during a telephone conversation, after the appellant’s lady friend managed to source his number. 

He argued the High Court erred in finding the offense premeditated as the convict and the deceased had never met before the assault. 

“The event happened in quick succession and there is no evidence that he planned on killing the deceased,” Mr Rabosotho said. 

However, the state prosecutor, Ms Keletso Mfosi said the High Court was right in delivering the sentence adding that the made the warn and caution statement voluntarily, and therefore the court was right to admit it. 

Ms Mfosi further said the statement could not be admitted as a confession as it lacked some material elements. 

Moreover, she said, the bullet which shot the deceased exited from the chest, which showed he was shot from the back, proving he was not charging at the convict. 

She further said the interval between the assault and murder incident was enough to allow the convict time to reflect and come back to his senses, adding that he was attended to by a police officer and a nurse. 

“Here is a man who was assaulted innocently whilst with a lady friend, he went to the police and they said just go, when you find them call us. Don’t you think this was a man with a sense of grief,” presiding Judge Justice Isaac Lesetedi asked Ms Mfosi, who considered that the convict could have been smoldering from the assault. 

The court will deliver its verdict on April 14. Ends