CoA dismisses Meswele convicts' appeal against 40-year imprisonment
Pini Bothoko | Wednesday April 1, 2026 06:00
Delivering judgment on Friday, Justice Tshepo Motswagole found that both the conviction and sentence were sound, ruling that there was no basis for the appellate court to interfere with the lower court's decision.
“The appeal against both conviction and sentence has no merit. There being no basis for this court to intervene in the sentencing discretion exercised by the court below, the decision of that court remains intact. It has not been demonstrated that the court below misdirected itself in any manner whatsoever, and indeed all relevant factors were considered,” he said.
Court records show that on September 10, 2015, at Oodi village, Legwale and Mkhuha, acting jointly and with a common purpose, unlawfully assaulted Thato Meswele, who later succumbed to her injuries on September 14.
The court heard that the killing was a case of mistaken identity stemming from a murder-for-hire plot. Legwale had allegedly hired Mkhuha to attack his then-wife, Dimpho Meswele, whom he suspected, along with his mother-in-law, Sedibo Meswele, of bewitching him. However, the plan went tragically wrong when Mkhuha mistakenly attacked and fatally injured Thato, Dimpho’s sister.
In his judgment, Justice Motswagole underscored that the High Court had carefully weighed all mitigating and aggravating factors before arriving at the 40-year sentence. He further noted that there had been no unwarranted departure from established sentencing precedents.
“I am not persuaded that there has been any unnecessary departure from precedents in the immediate past period,” he said, adding that courts have increasingly expressed concern over the rising prevalence of violent crimes, particularly those targeting women.
He warned of a disturbing societal shift in which human life is being devalued.
“A new trend is evolving whereby human life is devalued and treated like a commodity and subjected to principles of mercantilism. The lower court had described the case as bordering on the most serious category of offences, even after finding the presence of extenuating circumstances,” Justice Motswagole said.
The judge also addressed the role that beliefs in witchcraft played in the motive behind the crime, stating that such beliefs could not justify the taking of a human life.
“The physical termination of life on account of the so-called belief in witchcraft not only alters the parameters of the perceived dispute, but also demonstrates a lack of trust in the power of witchcraft. In other words, if one believes in witchcraft, then the response must bear a reasonable relationship thereto,” he said.
The High Court had earlier concluded that had Legwale not believed that his wife and mother-in-law were attempting to harm him through witchcraft, Thato Meswele would likely still be alive today.
Evidence presented during the trial revealed that on the morning of the attack, Thato had stepped outside the house as the family prepared for work. It was at that moment that Mkhuha hit her on the head with a hard object, inflicting a deep wound that ultimately led to her death days later.
During trial proceedings in 2020, Legwale denied plotting a murder, maintaining instead that he had only instructed the men to place a baboon head in the yard as part of a ritual intended to reconcile with his estranged wife.
Despite his defence, both men were convicted and, in August 2024, each sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment. Mkhuha, a Zimbabwean national, received an additional 12-month sentence for unlawfully residing in Botswana.