Son Gets 5Yrs After Slitting Father’s Throat
Lebogang Mosikare | Tuesday November 2, 2021 06:00
The Francistown High Court found Goitsemang guilty of unintentionally killing Mooketsi Sebudubudu on July 2, 2018.
Goitsemang had pleaded guilty to the offence. Moroka then sentenced Goitsemang to five years in jail and subsequently made an order that his 14-month pre-trial incarceration should be factored into the sentence.
When delivering the sentence, Moroka said that Goitsemang found himself in difficult circumstances as a result of his poor relationship with his father.
“Facts show that the accused’s bad relationship with his father started in 1998 following the death of his mother because the deceased did not take good care of him (accused). The facts show that the father was fond of verbally and physically abusing his son following his mother’s death. On July 2 in 2018, the deceased arrived home in a bad mood. As he entered his yard, he found one of the accused’s friends inside the yard and ordered the friend to leave his home. The friend obliged and left the home as he was instructed,” said Moroka.
After the accused’s friend left the home, Moroka noted, the deceased turned his anger towards his son.
“The deceased ended up switching off electricity after the accused entered the house. This left the accused to sit in a dark house. After the deceased switched off the electricity, the accused went to switch it back on. The accused then left his father and went to another room to sleep covering himself with a blanket. The deceased then followed the accused to the room and violently pulled the blanket that the accused was covering himself with. An altercation then ensued which resulted with the accused taking a knife which he used to slit his father’s throat,” Moroka continued.
After the accused stabbed his father with the knife he went to the police station to report what had just happened, Moroka noted. “The accused is a victim of circumstances which culminated following his mother’s death after he was left under the care of his abusive father. He readily pleaded guilty to the offence and is a first offender. The dictates of justice say that first offenders should be spared custodial sentences when it is unavoidable to do so. The aim of justice is to rehabilitate offenders particularly in cases such as the current one where the offence did not happen intentionally,” Moroka explained. The judge added that the accused cannot be categorised as a criminal.
“A long custodial sentence is not appropriate in this matter as it does not serve the purpose of the judiciary. However, taking into account the sanctity of life, I will pass a lower sentence,” Moroka said before delivering the sentence.