Death Row hit men to appeal
Mpho Mokwape | Friday January 8, 2016 15:23
The convicts, Daniel Semi, 30, and Gaolatlhe Thusang, 35, were condemned to death in 2013 for killing one Motlhanka Motukwa in 2008. The duo, who hail from Ntlhantlhe in the Southern District, were sentenced to death penalty by Lobatse High Court Judge Michael Leburu despite pronouncement by Judge Tshepo Motswagole that death penalty was unconstitutional.
Leburu had squashed the declaration by Motswagole and proceeded to sentence the two to death. The duo, according to evidence before court, were hired as hit men by their co-accused at the time, Agisanyang Motukwa, 34. Motukwa was said to have hired the two to kill his father after believing he was bewitching him.
Leburu had interpreted Section 203 of the penal code differently after Motswagole had argued, in sentencing a murder convict, that it contravened several sections of the constitution hence rendering the death penalty unconstitutional.
The two hired men will appear with desperate pleas in persuading the court to save them from the hangman’s noose. Their lawyers from Moses Kadye Attorneys and Mthimkulu Attorneys will have to double their efforts and have a different approach in convincing the judges to let the two men loose having lost before Leburu.
Before the sentencing in 2013 during the final submissions, the lawyers had argued at length relying on Motswagole’s declaration that death penalty was unconstitutional but failed to convince Leburu to agree with his fellow judge.
“Despite being arrested before they could receive any money after carrying out the task, their case attracted aggravating factors because their motive was behind money therefore attracting the death sentence,” said the judge during sentencing. Meanwhile, Motukwa is also appealing his conviction and sentence. He was given 25 years behind bars after the judge found that there were extenuating circumstances.