Davids' alleged killer pleads guilty
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Friday October 16, 2020 16:41
Appearing briefly in court on Wednesday, Mokgalemi Maleya who is the second accused in the matter, indicated through his attorney Opeyemi Ajayi that he intends to tender a plea of guilty for the charge.
“Yesterday I indicated to the court with regard to the nature of the plea the second accused shall be tendering,” Ajayi told High Court judge, Michael Leburu.
“The second accused wants to plead guilty.
“I received statements of facts from the prosecution, which I’m still going through. I have not been able to put the same to the second accused.”
As such, the defence lawyer pleaded for more time to go through the statements, as this would assist them in deciding on a proper plea to tender once trial starts.
“We need time to do the needful,” he added.
The matter had originally been scheduled for commencement of trial between October 13 to 16, 2020 before Leburu.
However, the court was forced to postpone the matter to October 21 for reading of facts.
Maleya is accused alongside Zimbabwean Jabulani Dube, of brutally stabbing Davids to death in 2018 at a farm in Sorilatholo following a fight between him and two of his herd-boys.
At the time of his untimely death, the vocal, and at times controversial MP was a Botswana Democratic Party member after returning to Parliament via an Umbrella for Democratic Change ticket in 2014.
It is said that the state is looking to put away the two men for the offence largely through accounts of eyewitnesses and the police officer who interviewed the accused persons.
The state is expected to call 16 witnesses. Directorate of Public Prosecution’s Thato Dibeela is the prosecutor while Dube is represented by Bathusi Brown.
Maleya is currently out on bail while his co-accused Dube is remanded in custody.