Convicted murderer awaits sentence
Mpho Mokwape | Thursday April 17, 2014 15:55
Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo found Talane Selebogo guilty on all five counts he faced, stemming from a December 2011 incident involving one count of murder, three counts of attempted murder and one count of arson.
Selebogo was convicted of murdering Batsile Kekgaretswe, attempting to murder Ketshephaone Kekgaretswe, Kelebogile Molefe and Semakalaleng Kekgaretswe and setting fire to a dwelling house on December 3, 2011.
The deceased was the father of Selebogo’s girlfriend, whom he stabbed to death, while in the process setting a house on fire and attempting to stab his girlfriend, her mother and his own child. Selebego prevented survivors from leaving the burning house while chasing them about with the knife, during the incident.
On Tuesday, Dibotelo told Selebego that if there were no extenuating circumstances found during submissions on June 3, he would be eligible for the death penalty. The bail was also cancelled, resigning the murder convict to await his fate behind bars.
Delivering judgment, Dibotelo said Selebego had pleaded not guilty to all five counts, therefore challenging the prosecution to prove all the elements of each of the offences against him beyond reasonable doubt.
He said when determining on the evidence the prosecution had proved the charges beyond reasonable doubt, he had to bear in mind that the accused bore no burden to prove that he did not commit any offences alleged against him.
Justice Dibotelo said after evaluating all the evidence and submissions on count one of murder, he came to the firm conclusion that Selebego’s self-defence plea was a pack of lies designed to deceive the court. The Chief Justice said a number of reasons convinced him that Selebego’s self-defence argument was false, including the fact that in his sworn evidence, the murder convict never mentioned that he was under attack from the deceased. Dibotelo said in his testimony Selebego had jumped from one position to another trying to describe or explain what actually happened when the deceased allegedly attacked him. “I find that the prosecution has, on the evidence, proved that the accused was not acting in self-defence when he stabbed the deceased with a knife, inflicting injuries that caused death,” the Chief Justice said.
On counts two, three and four of attempted murder, Dibotelo said Section 217 of the penal code prescribed life imprisonment for any person found guilty of attempting to unlawfully cause the death of another.
He said the evidence in respect of all the counts pointed to Selebego even though he had denied attempting to burn the victims in the house and using a knife to prevent them from escaping the raging fire.
Dibotelo further said all the state witnesses were firm that Selebego was present when the house caught fire and that his actions and conduct of running around the burning house, brandishing the knife he had used to murder the deceased, against the other victims was unlawful and manifested his intent to murder.
On the last count of arson, Dibotelo said while evidence that Selebego had set the fire was circumstantial due to the absence of witnesses to the fact, an evaluation of the evidence could only lead to the conclusion that he had wilfully and unlawfully set the house on fire. Ashford Kgomotso represented the state while Onalethata Kambai was Selebego’s defence counsel.