04 Dec 2024

Extension II Chief Magistrate, Ms Kamogelo Mmesi, has dismissed a confession statement obtained from robbery-accused person, Tsaone Reboeleng on the basis that it was not made voluntarily.

Chief Magistrate Mmesi delivered the ruling of trial-within-trial today after Reboeleng’s attorney, Mr Kgosietsile Ngakaagae maintained that his client was threatened and coerced to make the confession statement.

The background of trail-within-trial is that it emanated after the defence team made an application for the confession statement to be dismissed as false because it was not made voluntarily.

Chief magistrate Mmesi, therefore, said events that transpired after the arrest of Reboeleng casts doubt on whether the confession statement was made voluntarily.

She said it was clear that the accused person was mistreated from inception, and therefore it could not be said that she was in the right mind to produce a confession.

She said Reboeleng was kept in a police cell with a fresh wound from an operation, not getting the necessary medical attention hence could not be deemed fit enough to produce such a statement.

Ms Mmesi said it was not necessary for her to be required to make a confession statement as she was still reeling in pain from an operation, coupled with threats that she has received from the investigators as well as being threatened with death.

Ms Mmesi said it was common knowledge that after an operation, a person has bound to experience some challenges, which necessitated that one be given time to fully recover.As such, she said, the confession statement was not voluntarily made. 

The chief magistrate said Reboeleng was induced to make a confession by being denied medical services and other social amenities with the promise that she would only get them after making the confession statement.

She, therefore, explained that for a confession statement to be admissible in court, it must be made freely and voluntarily by a person in a sound and sober sense.

She said during the trial-within-trial, six witnesses gave evidence including the judicial officer who recorded the purported confession statement, which had since turned into an issue for contention.

She said it had transpired from the evidence delivered in the trial-within-trial that the Investigating Officer, Detective Inspector Ranto Mmeleki, was never aware of attempts made by family members and attorney to engage with the accused person.

Detective Insp. Mmeleki had further indicated that the accused person never indicated that she was uncomfortable with recording the confessions statement, nor that she was ill-treated of tortured to confess.

Ms Mmesi said the accused person had on the other hand revealed in her evidence that she was injured at the scene of the incident at around 11 am and was taken for immediate medical attention late afternoon at 6 pm.

She added that the accused person however, revealed being tortured during interrogations, insults hauled at her at even threatened that she would get killed like her friends if she refused to confess and tell the judicial officer what the investigators wanted her to say.

Ms Mmesi said since her arrest on February 23, 2022, Reboeleng was denied visitation from either family members or her attorney. She said it was only on March 3, 2022, ten days since her arrest after High Court order that she was able to meet with her attorney, Mr Ngakaagae.

The chief magistrate said the court was not in dispute of what transpired at the scene, where the other accused persons in the robbery were shot and killed. She also added that another issue of note was that the accused person also suffered an injury during the shooting which resulted in her undergoing an operation at Princess Marina Referral Hospital.Ends

Reboeleng who is the sole survivor of the February 23, 2022 shooting, is charged alongside 10 others with robbing a Security Systems cash-in-transit vehicle about P986 740. 00.

The case will mention on January 29, 2025 for status update and confirm dates for continuation of trial of March 12, 13 and 20, 2025. Ends