Deputy head misses jail time by a whisker

Lebogang Baingapi | Friday June 26, 2015 16:35

 

Magistrate Segametsi Basinyi said that Kgosiesele saved the court time and therefore she extended mercy by being lenient on him.

According to the charge sheet, Kgosiesele, 54, was arrested on the May 28, 2014 at Marakanelo Avenue in Jwaneng, driving a motor vehicle while under the influene.  The alcohol in his breath was 1.17mg/1000ml contrary to the stipulated legal limited of 0.22mg/1000ml.  

The deputy school head is not a first time offender of the same charge.

When passing the sentence, Basinyi said that the accused may have pleaded guilty to the charge, but has proven record of previous convictions of similar offence in the past.

She however heard the plea of the accused who begged for leninecy on him, as he had no intention to commit such an offence again.

She highlighted that the offence carries a fine of between P3,000 and P5,000 while a jail sentence should not be below 18 months, but not above two years.

She ordered that the accused pay a fine of P5,000 by July 31, failure of which he will spend a year behind bars. He was also disqualified from driving for a period of two years.

Still in court, one Maitumelo Motswetla also pleaded guilty to the charge of drunken driving and driving a motor vehicle without a driver’s licence.

The facts of the matter are that on October 5, 2014, at Choppies Mall in Jwaneng, the accused was found by police officers parking a motor vehicle in the middle of the road in front of J B sports.

The officers noticed that the accused and the passenger were allegedly drinking some beer. They then asked the accused to produce a driver’s licence of which he failed to present, stating that he had none.

The accused was then taken to the police station for alcohol testing of which the results revealed that his alcohol content was 0.33mg/1000ml, above the legal limit.

Copies of calibration certificate, service certificate and results printout were produced as part of the prosecution evidence.

He will appear again on July 14, where the prosecution is expected to present the accused‘s previous convictions if any.