'Drug dealers' on trial
Lebogang Mosikare | Friday March 6, 2020 16:42
The charges include stealing dagga from a police station.
The smell of the marijuana was so pervasive that officers of the court, prosecutors and attorneys representing the accused were forced to put on masks.
The scene at the court resembled China and other countries where the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) is prevalent and wreaking havoc when the court moved from courtroom two to courtroom six to inspect the dagga.
Therefore, it was not surprising that some people who went to court cracked jokes that the ‘Corona virus’ has finally spread to Botswana.
There was also a heavy presence of the police in and outside courtroom six in case someone dared to steal the dagga again.
However, only two accused persons, Tholego Mpapho also known as Tocs and Nchidzi Bakhobi, appeared before Magistrate Game Mooketsi.
The alleged mastermind of the offences, Wazha Nthoiwa also known as Mapetla, has long absconded from attending court sessions and the prosecution believes that he may be hiding somewhere in South Africa.
The court has since issued a warrant of his arrest.
In the first count, the State alleges that Nthoiwa, Mpapho and Bakhobi acting jointly with a common purpose, broke into Botswana Police Services (BPS) Northern Division Headquarters storeroom ((commonly known as Central Police Station) and therein stole dagga on August 23, 2015.
In the second charge, the State alleges that the trio set fire to an exhibit room at BPS northern division headquarters and in the process burnt dagga that was inside on August 23, 2015.
In the third count, the State alleges that the trio was unlawfully found with dagga weighing 48,5 kg on August 28, 2015 at Borolong village.
In the fourth charge, the State alleges that the trio was found in possession of dagga weighing 80 kg on August 28 in 2015 at Borolong village.
Giving his evidence-in-chief, one of Mpapho’s neighbours at Borolong, Akanyang Moagabo, told the court that on August 27 in 2015, he was home when he saw a convoy of cars packed at Mpapho’s place of abode.
“I then went to Mpapho’s place of residence since he is my neighbour. When I arrived at his place, I saw four men who were handcuffed and shackled with leg chains on their legs. Of the four men, I only knew Mpapho. Four or five men who told me that they were police officers accompanied them. The police officers told me that they were looking for their missing items. They then explained that Mpapho is the one who led them to his place of residence,” said Moagabo.
After the police told me the purpose of their visit, Moagabo said, they asked Mpapho to open the house. “Mpapho went to the main house to look for the keys of the roundavel but he did not find them…He later used a spade to break open the door of the thatched roundavel. After Mpapho opened the door, he went inside the house with the cops. When they came out of the house, the police officers came holding some bags… The cops then asked me to open the bags and I obliged. After I opened the bags, I saw a plant that looked like marijuana inside the bags. The cops then told me that the things that they were looking for were the ones inside the bags. Mpapho did not dispute what the cops said save to explain that he was given the bags by one of his cousins. Kgosi Daniel of Borolong was also one of the people who were present when the police came to Mpapho’s place,” said Moagabo adding: “The police then took the bags and whisked Mpapho and his accomplices away.”
During questions time, Mpapho’s attorney Martin Maeba told the court that he had nothing to ask his client while Obert’s lawyer Kagiso Jani asked Moagabo some questions.
Moagabo agreed with Jani that he did not know how the bags that were seized by the police arrived at Mpapho’s place of residence.
He also said that of the four men who were handcuffed and shackled, he only knew Mpapho adding that the place where the bags were seized by the police belonged to Themba Valela who is now late.
“… I also confirm that Mpapho told the police that the items that they seized from his residence belonged to his cousin. Yes, I also agree that Mpapho cooperated very well with the police when they came to search his place,” said Moagabo.
After a series of questions, Jani put it to Moagabo that Mpapho would in future give sworn evidence and tell the court that his cousin told him to keep the bags for him because the bags contained animal feed. In response, Moagabo said that he at no point heard Mpapho mentioning anything about animal feed.
Another State witness, Leonard Obert who is Bakhobi’s elder brother told the court that on the date he did not remember clearly now in 2015, he woke up and found two bags containing something inside his mother’s place in Borolong.
“I didn’t know who brought those bags at my mother’s place but I suspected that my younger brother brought them. I went to Bakhobi and asked him about the bags and he told me that they belonged to Nthoiwa. Bakhobi also told me that Nthoiwa forced him to keep the bags. I then told Bakhobi to take the bags out of my mother’s place but he told me that Nthoiwa told him that he would come and take them within a short period of time,” said Leonard.
Leonard further told the court that after his conversation with Bakhobi, he left him and went to a nearby alcohol drinking spot to imbibe alcohol but at around 4 pm he saw Bakhobi and Nthoiwa accompanied by two other guys at his mother’s place.
The quartet, Leonard said, then went to a nearby house where Bakhobi was renting.
“After it became dark, I discovered that the bags were now not at my mother’s place. I later asked Bakhobi about the whereabouts of the bags and he told me that Nthoiwa took them,” said Leonard who added that he suspected that the bags were containing dagga since it smelt.
When cross-examined by Maeba, Leonard conceded that Bakhobi told him that Nthoiwa forced him to keep the bags.
“I know Nthoiwa from Bluetown location in Francistown and I know him as a violent person. Bakhobi told me that the day before he kept the bags for Nthoiwa, Nthoiwa was carrying a gun hence he acceded to his request to keep the bags because of fear. Bakhobi also told me that Nthoiwa told him that he was going to keep the bags for him whether he liked it or not,” said Leonard.
Archie Makgoa and Mompoloki from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) represented the State.