Ex-BDF Soldier Gets 10 Years In The Slammer
Lebogang Mosikare | Monday September 21, 2020 16:45
Justice Barnabas Nyamadzabo sentenced convict Prince Molathwa for gunning down Mosireletsi Ricardo Ramokgothwane on May 18, 2011 at or near Canon Store at Light Industrial Site in Francistown. Also, Molathwa was fined P250 for unlawful possession of a firearm that he used when he opened fire on Ramokgothwane.
In default of payment, Nyamadzabo made an order that Molathwa should be imprisoned for six months, which sentence should run concurrently with his murder sentence.
When delivering his ruling on extenuating circumstances that may have led Molathwa to committing the offence, Nyamadzabo said that the court was therefore enjoined to determine if it cannot impose the ultimate sentence of capital punishment in the absence of exceptional extenuating circumstances. However, Nyamadzabo stated that he agreed with the defence counsel that in Molathwa’s case, provocation influenced him to commit the offence.
This, he said, was coupled with the fact that Molathwa’s actions were not premeditated – a factor which also reduced his moral blameworthiness.
The judge explained that in Molathwa’s case, it was clear that he was having marital problems with his wife and had issued summons to sue Ramokgothwane for marriage wrecking, which the deceased had admitted to on August 2010.
Nyamadzabo added that following Molathwa’s intention to sue Ramokgothwane for marriage wrecking, the court later ruled in his favour in an interlocutory judgement.
The adulterous relationship between Ramokgothwane and Molathwa’s wife, Nyamadzabo revealed, started in August 2010 and continued until the deceased met his fate.
Nyamadzabo said that what may have prompted Molathwa to kill Ramokgothwane is the fact that he once telephoned Ramokgothwane pouring out his frustrations that he should desist from having an affair with his wife, but Ramokgothwane told him that he did not care.
“In doing so, the deceased’s actions may have aggravated the accused’s actions because he was already angry. While Molathwa brought the gun from Gaborone where he was staying to Francistown to shoot the deceased, it cannot be said that he intentionally brought it to kill Ramokgothwane as can be attested by one of the witnesses Nancy Malikiwa who overheard Ramokgothwane and Molathwa locked in a phone conversation. This offence happened on the spur of the moment because on the day Molathwa killed Ramokgothwane, they had an intense discussion in front of Canon. Therefore, this discounts premeditation on Molathwa’s part,” Nyamadzabo said, adding that Molathwa therefore escaped the death penalty by a whisker.
When passing sentence, Nyamadzabo said that he took into account that Molathwa was a first offender, which factor worked in his favour.
The judge also stated that Molathwa lost his employment at the BDF because of the case, which on its own is punishment.
“Moreover, the accused is taking care of his three children who not only look to him as a father but also as a parental figure…”