Mojanki bids to quash previous conviction
Lebogang Mosikare | Wednesday May 26, 2021 10:41
Socks, who was Mojanki’s ex-girlfriend, was a nurse at Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital before she met her harrowing fate.
In 2015, the principal magistrate Dumisani Basupi found Mojanki guilty of maliciously damaging property.
This was in relation to a case in which Mojanki burnt a car belonging to Letsweletse Matome at Mmei Junior Secondary School in Francistown.
When Mojanki burnt the car then, property worth up to P4,000 was damaged in the process.
The car that Mojanki burnt was parked in a yard inside the said school.
Basupi subsequently sentenced Mojanki to three years in jail, wholly suspended for a period of three years on condition that he does not commit a similar offence within that period.
In addition to the suspended prison sentence, Basupi also ruled that Mojanki shall receive six strokes after being certified fit by a medical practitioner.
Basupi also said that Mojanki, who was a police officer stationed at Central Police Station by then, had brought the name of the Botswana Police Service (BPS) into disrepute.
“I also make an order that the accused shall compensate the complainant. The clerk of the court shall determine the amount to be paid after making an assessment of the damaged property. The accused has the right to appeal both the conviction and sentence at the High Court within 14 days if he is not satisfied,” said Basupi then.
However, Mojanki later appealed his conviction and sentence before Justice Barnabas Nyamadzabo at the Francistown High Court.
For six years, Mojanki has pleaded with the lower court to avail the case record of his malicious damage to property charge in order to properly prepare his appeal, to no avail.
On Tuesday this week, Nyamadzabo told Mojanki that his case from the Magistrate's Court was still not available – a factor that emboldened Mojanki to make an application before Nyamadzabo to quash his previous conviction.
Nyamadzabo, however, told Mojanki that the court would decide its next course of action on August 19, 2021.
At law, previous criminal convictions can affect how criminals are sentenced for any new offences they are convicted of.
Convicts may be given more serious sentences if they committed similar offences in the past.
When sentencing the convicts, the courts may consider the offences that they have been convicted of in the past.
Meanwhile, Justice Lot Moroka has told Mojanki and his defence attorney that they should be ready to give reasons why Mojanki should not be sentenced to death for murdering Socks.
Mojanki will appear before Moroka on June 30 for extenuation and mitigation.