Ex-cop pleads guilty to spousal murder

Lebogang Mosikare | Thursday April 15, 2021 11:56

 

Mogomotsi Legae, 40, had previously pleaded not guilty to murdering Olorato Ratanang Legae but pleaded guilty only after one state witness Dr Paul Sidandi, a psychiatrist at Jubilee Hospital, testified.

Legae murdered Olorato in Tawana ward in Letlhakane village.

Evidence presented in court before Legae changed his plea showed that he had travelled from Kasane to Letlhakane where he was working at the time as a laboratory technician after he quit the police service and thereafter committed the offence.

The court heard that Legae committed the offence after he prematurely quit taking medication for mild depression sometime in April 2016 – a situation Sidandi accepted that may have worsened his mental condition.

However, Sidandi told the court that at the time Legae committed the offence, he was not suffering from any severe form of depression since he managed to travel all the way from Kasane to Letlhakane to commit the offence.

Sidandi, therefore, said that if Legae was suffering from severe depression, he would not have driven his car from Kasane to Letlhakane because someone who is suffering from severe (high) depression is incapable of doing normal duties (chores) like driving.

Taking that into consideration, the expert witness explained that Legae was fit to stand trial for the murder of his Olorato.

The situation took a new twist after lunch when Legae’s attorney Jost Isaac informed the court that after extensively studying the evidence of the remaining state witnesses with his client, they have agreed that they shall not be calling any witnesses.

“The accused has agreed to plead guilty to the charge if it is agreeable to the court. We have agreed with the prosecution that they will prepare facts that can be read to the accused the following day in the afternoon. We will thereafter proceed with mitigation on behalf of the accused,” Isaac said.

After the court accepted the proposal of the prosecution and defence, Justice Bengbame Sechele adjourned the matter to Thursday for facts reading in the afternoon.

“The accused’s bail is extended until then,” Sechele said.