26 Jun 2025

 The defense counsel in the Mmathubudukwane arson case, Mr Unangoni Tema, says the state has failed to provide sufficient evidence linking his client to the crime he is charged with.

Dismissing the state’s opposal of his client, Ian Bafo Legobo’s bail application before the Mochudi Magistrate court on Wednesday, Mr Tema argued that there was no evidence that the court could rely on against his client. He argued that he had all along questioned how the May 16 incidents relating to the crime scene were tied to the accused, as there was not enough evidence to prove that he had committed the crime.

Mr Tema submitted that allegations that the accused was seen by some informant purchasing petrol in a 5-litre container at Sikwane PetroHyper Filling station on May 14, while incident happened on May 16, were immaterial to the incident that happened in Mmathubudukwane.

Furthermore, he said allegations that the accused was a flight risk did not hold water as well because at the time of the incident, he could have fled the scene if at all he had anything to do with the offence at the centre of the case. Mr Tema said some information that the state counsel relied on in arguing against the accused’s bail application was fabricated including the previous cases of alleged absconding from custody.

He said there was no inducement for Bafo to abscond, as there was nothing that associated him with the case before court. Other reasons for denying him bail he said were based on previous offences that the accused committed while he was still a minor.

“I submit that there is no inducement for him to abscond and as long as he is given bail conditions, no matter how hard, he will adhere,” he argued.

Countering the application, the state counsel Mr Kamogelo Maleke presented that where there was reasonable suspicion that an accused person had committed an offence, it was well in order to present heads of argument. Mr Maleke submitted that Bafo had once escaped from lawful custody in 2007 and fled to South Africa after he was convicted in a criminal case, only to be extradited after 13 years.

He said the accused was therefore a flight risk, who had once served time at Kgosi Mampuru Prison in South Africa. He argued that should the accused be admitted to bail and subsequently choose to skip the country, bringing him back to stand trial would be cumbersome as the extradition process was usually lengthy.

Principal Magistrate Ms Queen Moanga, who will deliver the verdict on the bail application on July 7, said her determination of the case would among other factors be narrowed down to whether or not the accused was a flight risk. ENDS