16 Jan 2014

Molepolole Chief Magistrate Faith Dlamini N’gandu has postponed a case in which a Bank Gaborone employee is accused of falsely obtaining P80 000 from the Molepolole branch.

The magistrate postponed the case after ordering that the accused be examined by a medical practitioner following claims that he was unfit to stand trial.

The 29-year-old Kagiso Segola’s defense attorney, Mr Mogakolodi Segwagwa, had pleaded for postponement of the matter arguing that the accused could not stand trial due to health problems.

The medical cards produced by Attorney Segwagwa showed that the accused went for checkup and was not examined for any knew condition. 

Magistrate N’gandu could not easily budge arguing that there was nothing serious about the accused’s health as the medical card showed that he was reviewed by prisons’ health official for a known asthma condition.

“I am struggling to have the matter postponed because it has been dragging for quite a long time. In my own view, the accused is deliberately buying time by making delaying tactics aimed to delay progress because his medical card does not highlight anything new except being reviewed for the known condition,” she said.

She therefore ordered that the accused be taken to the hospital for examination by a medical practitioner to confirm whether or not the accused was fit or unfit to stand trial, adding that the information would as well be used for record purposes to help show what could have delayed progress in the matter.

Segola, who is also the Director of Guru Holdings, obtained P80 000 from Bank Gaborone’s Molepolole branch in October 2010 by pretending that he had sufficient funds ready for collection at his personal account at Capital Bank. The chief state counsel, Mrs Thato Dibeela, prosecuted. Trial dates will be confirmed on March 7. ENDS