Defence moves to dismiss case against Stimela and company
Mpho Mokwape | Wednesday May 28, 2014 15:49
Making his submissions before Justice Key Dingake at the Gaborone High Court on Monday, the trio’s lawyer, Sidney Pilane, said his clients have no case to answer.
The State alleges that Stimela, Kegone Victor Sebina and Aubrey Nkuna abducted and assaulted Manga on May 21, 2011, with the alleged victim dying of his injuries nine days later. The assault was allegedly sparked by a business deal gone sour.
Pilane said there was no direct evidence of the perpetration of the offence charged or any other by any of the three accused persons, and argued that the State’s case was entirely circumstantial.
He accused the investigating officer of ‘fabricating stories’, saying his clients did not make any confessions to the police. Pilane said the investigating officer should have rather conducted a detailed investigation. “The only direct evidence the State is relying on, is that the deceased was found lying on the floor in a warehouse belonging to one of the accused on the morning of May 21, 2011, and that blood which is said to be of the deceased was found in the vehicle of the same accused,” said Pilane.
Pilane submitted that even the witnesses that the State was relying on could not identify any of the accused persons as having been among the four men alleged to have assaulted the deceased, despite having said that they heard and saw what happened.
“These pieces of evidence are circumstantial and inconsistent with the accused persons being the four men reportedly seen by the witnesses while here we have three men,” said Pilane.
The defence lawyer said the police had a duty to find objective evidence against the people who caused harm to the deceased, “rather than wasting time by pinning the crime on people that had no part in the murder of the deceased”.
“They could have taken fingerprints at the deceased’s house, and on other things found at the scene, to determine whether the accused persons had been there before the police took them there that day, but they didn’t,” he said.
Pilane charged that the State had been selective in the law it is relying on for its case, saying often judicial officers pay lip-service and forget to thoroughly investigate and determine whether there is evidence to which the accused have to answer.
He said the court should have regard to the quality of the evidence in order to bring a case for the accused to answer.
“The state should rather urge the police to uphold professional standards by conducting thorough investigations, looking and finding objective physical evidence and linking suspects to crimes they are accused of instead of relying on theories founded on suspicion and speculation, as well as the fabrication of false confessions against suspects,” he said.
Prosecutor, Ambrose Mubika had earlier argued that the three accused had a case to answer as there was adequate evidence that they had the intention to murder the deceased as indicated by the alleged abduction itself and the subsequent discovery of the body at one of the accused’s properties.
He argued that there were even witnesses to what transpired on the day and added that the deceased’s blood had been found on the accused’s clothes.
Mubika further stated that the accused trio admitted to the investigating officer that they had taken the deceased from his house.
Dingake reserved his judgement on the defence’s application to a date to be announced later.