29 Nov 2023

Botswana courts have registered a total of 2 088 murder cases from 2013 to date, Minister of Justice, Mr Machana Shamukuni has said.

Mr Shamukuni informed Parliament that out of these cases, 1 829 had been committed to the High Court for trial while 259 were at the preparatory examination stage at magistrates courts.

He also said 441 perpetrators were convicted, as opposed to the 182 who were acquitted, some of which cases were withdrawn by the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) due to insufficient evidence.

Additionally, the minister noted that of the 14 prisoners on death row, two had been unsuccessful in their appeal against the death penalty, another two were currently before the Court of Appeal seeking to appeal either the conviction or the sentence or both, while the remaining 10 were waiting to appear before the Court of Appeal.

He, however, noted that his ministry was not in a position to provide the number of murder suspects on bail, owing to the ongoing maintenance of the Court’s Records Management System.

Notwithstanding, he noted that bail was granted when investigations were concluded and there was no fear of interference by the suspect.

He also said bail was granted provided the suspect would attend court on all dates scheduled, has a fixed place of abode and would not interfere with witnesses, among other reasons.

He said bail was provided for in the Constitution, with a presumption of innocence until proven guilty, which included those accused of murder.

However, he noted that in an endeavour to heed to the public outcry concerning bail, his ministry had published a Bail Bill, intended to classify grounds and considerations for bail and further set out factors taken into consideration by the judicial officer in determining whether to grant bail or not.

Mr Shamukuni noted that in order to respond to the challenges facing the criminal justice system, the DPP had been holding Gender Based Violence (GBV) sensitisation campaigns in Maun, Tsobong, Kang, Ghanzi, Seronga, Shakawe, Matobo and Gumare, among other areas.

He said on average, murder cases took about 48 months to be concluded, a process that involves registration at magistrates courts for a preparatory examination, further police investigations and ultimately committing the suspect to the High Court for trial.

He noted that some of the challenges hindering the courts to achieve their 18 months disposal standards for criminal cases included delayed conclusion of investigations, delayed assessment of evidence to determine suitability for prosecution, challenges with locating witnesses in preparation for trial, congested court diaries caused by heavy workload for judicial officers, lack of resources to facilitate attendance of witnesses for trail, and delayed transcription of records.

To mitigate against such challenges, he noted that the deployment of the Judicial Case Management (JCM) system was intended to control the pace of proceedings and avoid unnecessary postponements, resulting in a quicker disposal rate of cases.

He also said the Judicial Service Commission was in the process of ensuring that judicial officers’ vacancies were filled to augment the current complement.

He said the Administration of Justice was working to establish commercial courts, which would ease the resolution of commercial cases, thereby positively impacting the country’s resolve to attract foreign direct investment.

However, he said the establishment of special courts for murder cases was not on the cards.

The minister was responding to a question from Member of Parliament for Serowe North, Mr Baratiwa Mathoothe, who had wanted to know the number of murder cases that occurred in Botswana during the last 10 years.

He had also sought to establish the number of suspects who were arrested, those who were released, the number of those convicted, the number of those on death row, the number of those out on bail, the reasons advanced why murder-accused persons were granted bail at a high rate.

The MP had also asked the minister what was being done to take the public into confidence about the existence of law and order, especially concerning the escalating cases of GBV in Botswana.

He had wanted to know the average time for murder cases in court and if the ministry did not consider establishing courts for murder cases and heinous crimes the same way there were courts for corruption and small claims to speed up the process of getting justice for the victims’ families. ENDS