Student in trouble for dagga stash

Lebogang Baingapi | Wednesday January 20, 2016 15:38

 

Kago Tlaile is facing a count of possession, after he was arrested in possession of dagga while travelling on a bus between Kanye and Jwaneng last year.

 Appearing before Odirile Makgatle, Tlaile asked the court to be lenient, claiming he was unaware that the substance he was carrying was an illegal drug.

He said on the date in question he boarded a bus from Gaborone where he had to pick a bag from one Karabo Phiri in Sejelo Junction in Kanye. He said when he asked about the contents of the bag, Phiri told him the bag had clothes, which were to be sold at Sekoma.

“I met with Phiri at Sejelo and he gave me a bag and accompanied me into the bus before he put another plastic bag under the seat and told me not to forget it,” he explained. During cross-examination Tlaile said Phiri took away some small plastics and put them in his (Phiri) pockets.

He further said he left the plastic containing dagga in the bus at a road block unintentionally; because he forgot it, contrary to belief of the prosecution that he knew it was illegal to possess such. He said he raised his hand outside the bus to claim ownership of the said plastic when quizzed by police officers during the search.

He also refuted allegations that that there were people who observed him remove the plastic from the bag when the police started a search at a roadblock.

The prosecutor, sub-inspector Edwin Supang put it to him that he was the one who carried the bag with dagga to the bus and he was responsible for everything in it, he answered in the affirmative. A bag containing a jean, a plastic bag with dagga and two cello-taped plastics were tendered and admitted before court as exhibits.

His witness Karabo Koko-nee-Phiri whom the accused said gave him the said bag, did not help him as he refuted allegations and testified that while he was with the accused in Gaborone, the accused received a call from somebody asking him to help him take goods to Gantsi. He said the accused asked him to accompany him but it was impossible because he had a trip to South Africa.

“I later received a call from him telling me that he was arrested with dagga at Moatle. He is lying when he said I am the one who gave him the bag,” he charged.

In final submissions, the prosecution said the accused claimed ownership of the exhibits and admitted statements of three witness and what he laid before court was just an afterthought to mislead the court.

The accused pleaded with the court to forgive him, as he did not know that what he was carrying was dagga. Judgement was reserved for January 29, 2016.