Rehabilitation prospect saves murderer’s life
Pini Bothoko | Monday June 16, 2025 11:34
Delivering a sentence earlier this week, Kebonang emphasised the importance of giving the convict a chance to reform, highlighting the court’s belief in the possibility of change.
In March this year, Gothwang Motlhoki was convicted of the murder of Nkagisang Ikaneng with extenuating circumstances, the offence he had committed back on July 5, 2019, after hitting her with an axe several times to death.
Then, it was revealed that on the fateful night, Motlhoki, the deceased, and one Phenyo Ikaneng had gathered at the deceased’s uncle's house for the preparation and unveiling of his tombstone, drinking alcohol, and later at night, they all went to a nightclub.
Court heard that before leaving for the nightclub, Motlhoki gave Phenyo and the deceased P200 to buy their alcohol and requested them not to spend more than P50, and what was spent was P80, something that enraged the convict.
However, Phenyo eventually promised to make good on the balance, and the matter was resolved, even though the second encounter ended in tragedy after he (Phenyo) retired to bed, leaving the convict with the deceased.
It was revealed that not long after, he was awaken by his girlfriend who told him that the deceased was seeking refuge and safety stating that Motlhoki had tried or was trying to rape her. The court further stated that the duo did not have a known relationship prior to the incident.
It was further stated that Phenyo tried to diffuse the attack, asking Motlhoki to let go of the deceased, but he later hit the deceased with an axe several times on the head to death, an offence that he later maintained not to remember, giving unsworn testimony before the court.
Passing the sentence earlier this week, Judge Kebonang sentenced Motlhoki to 15 years imprisonment on the prospects of rehabilitation. He said, “I do not think the convict is beyond rehabilitation, nor do I think the mandatory minimum sentence will be less effective than a long one in meeting any of the legitimate goals of sentencing. For this reason, I declined to follow the ranges that my colleagues and the Court of Appeal have imposed over the years”.
He further stated that in determining what is just and appropriate punishment or one that is proportional to the overall culpability of the offender, a court must, in my mind, be mindful of the age of the offender in its application of the relevant principles of sentencing.
“This is so because, after some point, the utilitarian and normative goals of sentencing will eventually begin to exhaust themselves once a contemplated sentence starts to surpass any reasonable estimation of the offender’s natural life span,” Kebonang said.
Kebonang further stated that, understandably, crime, whatever its form or nature, often brings forth a natural desire to see the most severe form of punishment imposed. But, he said, it must be remembered that the law stands between the convict and such natural emotions.
“The law requires a principled approach to sentencing, one that restrains the urge to punish by adherence to definable and rational sentencing objectives. A convict’s crimes would not be lessened in any way by imposing unreasonably long periods of incarceration. Our prison system is intended to have a rehabilitative effect on prisoners. Its rehabilitative value is not enhanced by imposing a higher sentence, or is it a function of the length of one’s prison term,” Kebonang argued.
He further stated that punishment for its own sake, with no particular benefit to society, cannot, in his view, be a legitimate goal of sentencing. He said an ‘eye for an eye’, ‘tooth for tooth’ or ‘life for a life’, which the retributionists call lex talionis in Latin, leads to disproportionate or excessive punishment.
“It is simply backward-looking in that it focuses on harm already done rather than addressing the broader issues of crime and its impact on society. Rather, rehabilitation of a convict must be an end game in line with the Prisons Act, Cap 21:03; Laws of Botswana,” Kebonang argued further.