Ntsuape sentenced to death
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Sunday May 15, 2022 20:15
Ntsuape killed Sadi on September 13, 2016 at Block 9 location in Francistown following the break-up of their relationship with his girlfriend, Dorcas Kgosietsile.
In his deliberations, Justice Lot Moroka of the Francistown High Court said Ntsuape stands convicted of eight counts including one count of murder, arson, five attempted murders and malicious damage to property respectively. He said according to the laws of Botswana, when the courts are sentencing they must consider elements such as crime, the offender and the society.
Furthermore, he said the sentence should always be in proportion not only to the gravity of the offense but also to the circumstance for the need of the accused as well as that of the society. He added that one of the aspects in sentencing is the individuality where it is credible that the court should look at the individuality aspect perspective before sentencing.
In this regard, Moroka was grateful for the information brought through the defence lawyer for the accused person, which included the report compiled by a psychiatric doctor. He said through the information provided, he learnt that Ntsuape’s father who was his custodian, died in 2010 and upon his death his mother cohabited with another man. Justice Moroka stated that the accused person did not accept the man brought by his mother and he chased him.
He added that the Ntsuape behaved violently towards his family members. Adding that in 2009, the accused person locked his family members in the house and opened a gas cylinder in an attempt to burn the house.
The Francistown High Court judge stated that in 2016 the accused burnt his employer's vehicle after he dismissed him from work. His most previous convictions are on traffic violations but at one point found guilty of common assault. Furthermore, he shared that Ntsuape has pending matters before Justice Barnabas Nyamadzabo.
According to Justice Moroka, Ntsuape is facing two murder charges and several counts of attempted murder. In December 2016, Ntsuape caused a Toyota Quantum to cause an accident. The Quantum overturned, killing a Thuso Ntusa, a Special Constable and another inmate, Emmanuel Mapholo, who was charged with rape.
When giving the evidence that led to the commitment of the crime, he said that the evidence is fairly straight forward.
He shared that on September 13, 2015, the accused boarded a bus from Gaborone to Francistown.
According to Justice Moroka ,when he arrived he went straight to Engen filling station and lied to the petrol attendant that he ran out of fuel and the same attendant bought his story.
He said the accused person then took the five litre of petrol and boarded a cab to Block 9 where his girlfriend and family were staying.
“When you got there, you found the family sleeping and did not knock but decided to jump into the yard and stayed there for about 30- 40 minutes.”
He further said that the accused person called his former girlfriend to check which room she was sleeping in and the phone rang and she answered. Justice Moroka indicated that Ntsuape spoke to Dorcus and she managed to hear that the accused person was in their yard.
He said that Dorcus then called her mother in the main house and when they woke up they found two cars burning and Ntsuape approached the deceased person and poured petrol on her. He added that he also poured petrol on Dorcus' father and set them on fire alive. The judge said the house also caught fire and others were trapped inside and it took the intervention of the neighbours to rescue them. After all the commotion the accused person caused, the judge said Ntsuape then boarded a lift back to Ramotswa.
He said that the prosecutor mentioned that the murder was premeditated because of the fact that Ntsuape went to Engen filling station and bought petrol.
He said that the defense lawyer Charles Tlagae said jealousy and a sense of loss led the accused person to commit the crime. He further said that Tlagae shared that upon losing his beautiful girlfriend and helping her build her house Ntsuape committed the crime.
Justice Moroka stated that during mitigation, Ntsuape indicated that he bought Dorcus a car, something which he did not raise during trial. He found it to be a lie, something which he used in order to get a lenient sentence.
He further dismissed issues of Ntsuape's contributions to building a house indicating that Dorcus proved that she took a loan from her employers to build the house. Therefore his contributions were less and he did so because he was comfortable.
When addressing issues of law and jealousy, Justice Moroka stated that in a romantic setup jealousy is a salt to food. He also spoke about the difference between a hot and cold blooded murder. The judge described a hot blooded murder as the one which takes place instantly whereas a cold blooded murder is pre-planned. He added that cold blooded murder is presided by premeditated circumstances and normally there are no extenuating circumstances and the penalty is death.
Therefore, Moroka said that the murder and attack, burning of petrol and jumping of wall without knocking show signs of premeditation. He added that if the visit was peaceful, he could have knocked. Adding that he even further called Dorcus and told her it was too late and that underlines the pouring of petrol and burning the cars and the house.
According to Justice Moroka, actions by Ntsuape were not hot blooded murder due to jealousy but rather the accused person left Ramotswa with the intention to kill. He said that he has gone through all the relevant factors to demonstrate extenuating circumstances because it is for the purpose of the court to find but not dismiss.
Furthermore he found that the murder is cold blooded and it was very unfortunate that the primary target lived to share her experience. Therefore he said there were no extenuating circumstances in this case and the laws of the land must apply.
When giving out the sentence, Justice Moroka sentenced Ntsuape to five years imprisonment for arson and on count three to seven on the offences of attempted murder 15 years imprisonment each.
He added that on count eight of malicious damage to property the accused person is sentenced to five years in prison.
Justice Moroka indicated that count three to seven shall run concurrently and they shall run consecutively to count two and eight.
“On count one of murder, the accused person is hereby sentenced to death .You shall be hanged by neck until you die. You have the right to appeal this conviction, sentence or both at the Court of Appeal within 14 days),” the judge concluded.