Convicted child rapist pleads for mercy
Mpho Mokwape | Wednesday November 19, 2014 16:09
Mosimanegape Ntoko appeared before the Court of Appeal (CoA) where he wanted to be granted leave to appeal in order to challenge his 10-year sentence for defilement. Ntoko was convicted and sentenced on October 2009 for defiling a girl under the age of 16.
During his submissions Ntoko told court that spending almost five years in jail has taught him a valuable lesson and that he will never repeat the same mistake again. “Sometimes lack of education drives us to do certain things that we later regret in life, but I promise this court that I have learnt my lesson and I will never repeat it again. That is my plea and promise to the court,” he said.
Moreover, Ntoko said his main ground for the appeal is for the court to consider backdating his sentence of 10 years despite having been on bail during the time of the trial. However, prosecutor Rahiman Khan submitted that Ntoko‘s appeal does not have any prospects of success and therefore, the application must be dismissed.
He added that to suggest that a period when the accused was on bail should be taken into account when backdating a sentence was totally untenable.
Khan said that the law was clear that an application for leave to appeal has to show a reasonable chance of success on appeal or at least a reasonably arguable case. “The record of proceedings clearly indicate that Ntoko was on bail throughout the trial until he got convicted and subsequently sentenced. Therefore there is no way his sentence can be backdated,” he said. He further submitted that even if the court considered Ntoko’s plea for mercy, in the end the law should take its cause and protect its citizens.
CoA Judge President Ian Kirby presided over the case and judgment is reserved for November 26, 2014.