High Court judge Mpaphi Phumaphi said that he had considerably looked at the case and found that there were no extenuating circumstances that led the accused to kill his son. He pointed out that Ping was provoked by his girlfriend before he killed her.
Before sentencing Ping, Phumaphi said that it was a fact the injury on his throat was caused by Iponeng. He said that the behaviour of Iponeng was provocative and it caused bad temper that led Ping to kill her.
A dark cloud engulfed the courtroom as Phumaphi finally pronounced: “I sentence you to death and you would be hanged by the neck till you are dead. May your soul rest in peace”.
He said that the second victim, Thusang was there when his mother was killed and never did anything that provoked the accused.
He told Ping that he killed his son with the notion of destroying evidence linking him to the murder of Iponeng.
The accused is alleged to have used a knife to kill his son and lover. It was said that after the killings, he wrote a note on the ground hoping that those who find it would know what happened. Ping was afraid that he was going to die as he sustained an injury to his throat during the fight with his lover.
Defence attorney Tiro Mothusi submitted that the court should be lenient on the accused as he was young at the time of the incident. He said the accused was a form-two dropout and he grew up in rough and poor circumstances.
He added that the accused was cooperative with the police from the time he was arrested and complied with court orders.
He emphasised that the accused had dependents and the court should consider that his mother had high blood pressure and was admitted at the Princes Marina Hospital in Gaborone.
