No bail for �murderers�, villagers plead
Lebogang Mosikare | Tuesday February 9, 2016 12:47
Kenneth Pennington of the Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, says that the notion of a presumption or assumption of innocence is remarkably widespread in many legal systems around the world.
However, to some locals, the maxim ‘guilty before proven innocent’ seems to have replaced the principle of being innocent until proven guilty and is the right way to go.
Recently, some residents of Mosetse village told their Member of Parliament (MP) Polson Majaga that granting of bail to murder accused persons is not right because in their thinking the accused have already committed serious offences even before commencement of their cases.
According to the Daily News, one Mosetse resident, Hildah Ndololo said losing a loved one at the hands of another is always painful, particularly if the accused was released back into society after being granted bail.
Ndololo said granting murder accused persons bail brings pain to the families of the deceased to the extent that they may contemplate taking the law into their own hands.
She suggested that government should consider reviewing the law governing bail despite the fact that one is innocent until proven guilty, adding that keeping such persons in custody until the trial is complete would give the grieving family some sort of relief and closure.
In the same vein, some Sebina residents echoed the same sentiments during a recent meeting that was addressed by the Minister of Justice, Defence and Security, Shaw Kgathi.
They said it was disheartening to see murder accused persons being granted bail despite the fact that they may have committed a very serious offence that attracts a maximum sentence of capital punishment.
One of the residents said that it was harrowing to the deceased’s families to see alleged ‘murderers’ roaming around the village shortly after being granted bail by the courts.
She added that what compounded the grieving families’ sorrows is that in some instances, the alleged ‘murderers’ go around the village bragging that they indeed committed the offence. Further they would claim that they would win the cases because police have not carried out their investigations properly.
However, Kgathi and officer commanding, Senior Superintendent Phodiso Dintwa told the residents that although they have heard their grievances, the position of the law is that a person is presumed innocent until they are proven otherwise by a competent court of law.
They said that the law was formulated in order to safeguard the constitutional rights of accused persons because in some instances they may be falsely implicated in having committed offences they have not committed.
Last year, former magistrate Sijabuliso Siziba ruled that it was a constitutional imperative to grant accused persons bail if there are valid reasons of doing so because everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.
Siziba said this in a case in which Nthoiwa Maxala, 33, Tshoganetso Maxala, 22, Tsaone Sedimo, 28, Unaludo Madumba, 27, Obonetse Sedimo, 28, and Macpherson Robert Gaogakwe, 49, allegedly shot and killed Thuso Mulaladzi gangster style at Somerset East in September.
He said: “…There are grounds upon which accused or suspects may be granted or refused bail. There is also a presumption that any person knows the law that is why ignorance of the law is not an excuse before the courts.
“For that reason, I will not dwell about possible attitude of the deceased’s family…The only confusion that may arise is if there are misconceptions that granting the accused bail is tantamount to acquitting them, which is not the position of the law. The accused are therefore granted bail.”
Francistown-based attorney Kesegofetse Molosiwa said public ignorance of the law fuels the perception that granting accused persons’ bail is tantamount to freeing them even before they are tried.
The proper procedure, Molosiwa said, is that everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.
“The law should be allowed to take its cause until the innocence or guilt of accused persons is determined by courts of law. It may be painful to some people who have lost property or loved ones to see accused persons being granted bail, but they should also understand that the law was promulgated to protect the interests of both the accused persons and complainants,” said Molosiwa.