Failed appeal earns convict more jail time
Mpho Mokwape | Tuesday November 14, 2023 06:00
The rapist, Tshepiso Bohule was on June 6, 2019, convicted by the then Kanye Senior Magistrate Daniel Nkau on a single count of rape and was sentenced to six years imprisonment instead of the statutory minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment as prescribed under the law.
The six years was also backdated to his first day of pretrial incarceration, which was from June 6, 2019. However, being aggrieved by the decision from trial, Bohule lodged an appeal against conviction only with the High Court on October 13, 2020, and the appeal came before Justice Gaolapelwe Ketlogetswe.
The High Court summarily dismissed the appeal based on the evidence after a consideration of his grounds of appeal, which were reportedly without merit. Although he did not appeal against the sentence, the High Court set aside the sentence of six years' imprisonment imposed by the trial court and instead imposed 10 years' imprisonment reckoned from June 6, 2020.
"The appeal is dismissed as it is without merit, but the sentence is increased from six years to the minimum sentence of 10 years to go with the crime," said Justice Ketlogetswe when he presided over the appeal. As luck seemed to have evaded the convicted Bohule just last week, the Court of Appeal also threw out his appeal on the same day it was supposed to be heard.
He approached the appeals court after being aggrieved by the decision of the High Court (CoA) in the hope of at least reducing his sentence from 10 years to the initial six years he was given. CoA judge, Justice Leatile Dambe dismissed Bohule's application for reasons that it was not properly before the court.
"There has been complete disregard of all the Rules of Court which cannot be overlooked," she said. The judge explained that crucial matters were missing from the record pointing out that the notice and grounds of appeal to the court were absent from the record contrary to the rules of the CoA. Justice Dambe stated that with no notice and grounds of appeal filed, the matter should not have been placed on the roll for hearing.
"Any step taken by the Registrar was irregular particularly when consideration is given to the fact that Rule 40 provides that a record of appeal shall be prepared upon receipt of the notice and grounds of appeal," the judge said. Due to irregularities Dambe mentioned, the matter was struck out, leaving Bohule with no recourse but to serve the imposed 10-year jail term.