Key witness a liar, a police informer - Mojanki
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday April 3, 2023 06:00
In 2021 Justice Lot Moroka of the Francistown High Court sentenced Mojanki to death for murdering Bokani, who was a former nurse at the Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital.
On Tuesday Mojanki appeared before the Court of Appeal (CoA) where his attorney, Kgololesego Segabo discredited the Pastor as dishonest saying his evidence was not supposed to be admissible.
The police gave Pastor Sox who was a key witness in the case at the High Court a recorder to capture a conversation between himself and Mojanki where the latter allegedly confessed to the crime.
When allegedly confessing to the murder, Mojanki is said to have asked the pastor for help because, “Bokani Sox was haunting him in his sleep”. Giving his heads of arguments before the CoA bench this week, Segabo maintained that the pastor and the deceased were related because they share the same surname. He said the trial court did not make a ruling on the issue when it was raised. “The pastor was a police informer. There is evidence which shows that he was not a credible witness.
He lied and his evidence should not have been admissible. Our contention is that the confession should not be admissible. A confession should be voluntary for it to be admissible,” he said. Segabo confirmed that indeed Mojanki met with the pastor but there is nothing that shows he was there to confess since it was a brief meeting. “He went there for prayers and we deny that he made a confession. Mojanki was under spiritual attacks and he was seeing dead people at night,” he emphasised.
Segabo also said Pastor Sox made a concoction to frame Mojanki. He said the gadget that was used by the pastor to record the conversation between him and Mojanki had a pre-recorded recording.
“My client has always denied saying those things and emphasised that it was not him in the recording,” he said. Segabo said they were shocked when the pastor came after three years at trial to confirm that the voice recording is that of Mojanki. He added that the pastor had every right to incriminate Mojanki because he was related to the deceased.
He said the fact that the pastor has denied that he was related to the deceased is an indication of his insincerity. “The pastor was quoted saying, ‘Come out and confess so that I pray for you’,” he indicated. Segabo also made submissions that a CD that contained the alleged Mojanki confession recorded by the pastor should not have been admissible at the trial court.
A device borrowed from the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Service (DIS) was used to record the conversation between Mojanki and Pastor Sox and the conversation was later transferred to a CD. “That CD was reproduced from a computer and uploaded from an unspecified gadget. We objected to the rendering of this copy and its production. It was a copy not properly certified and its contents were not in the language of the court,” he submitted. He said the lower court erred when it ruled that the CD was admissible.
On the part of the trial court not finding extenuating circumstances, Segabo said the lower court erred because the relationship between Mojanki and the deceased was amorous. “Mojanki revealed that on the fateful day Sox confessed that she had been impregnated by another man who was well known to the appellant. Mojanki said he lost control and do not know what happened afterwards only to regain consciousness few hours later on the roadside. In the event the court finds that indeed the appellant caused the death of the deceased, the court should consider that there were extenuating circumstances and there was an issue of rejection,” he pointed out.
For his part CoA’s Justice Lakhvinder Singh Walia said Segabo was raising some matters that have no basis in the record. “You go forward with allegations that are not substantiated”. On the accusation that the Pastor was a police informer, Walia asked Segabo if he does not have civic duty to bring criminality to the attention of the law. Justice Isaac Lesetedi who was part of the three CoA bench said Segabo should have put it to the Pastor during trial if indeed he had a relationship with the deceased. “This was a make or break witness,” he said. In defence, the state lawyer Moagi Ndlovu said it is clear in the evidence and there is nothing to impute behaviour, action or conduct by the pastor that he was not credible.
“The relationship between the pastor and the deceased was categorically clear and there is no evidence that points to the contrary,” he said. Ndlovu said the pastor was consistent in giving his evidence and affirming the recording. “The appellant was never called by the pastor but he voluntarily went there. He had the option to agree or disagree, this was a voluntary exercise,” Ndlovu pointed out. He said looking at the conduct of the pastor the latter was trying to make Mojanki as free as possible. On the argument that the relationship was amorous, Ndlovu said the affair had ended three months before the incident. “The affair ended in October 2013 before the incident in January 2014. Mojanki had already moved on.
He had a girlfriend and was using the girlfriend’s car during the day of the murder. This was a blossoming relationship at some point because the two were cohabiting. At the time of the incident they were not staying together, however,” he highlighted. He said the relationship was mono directional only from the appellant’s side. The judgement on the matter will be delivered on April 14.