Kgosi pleads for bail variation
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Friday July 19, 2019 13:49
Kgosi is currently in Malaysia where he is admitted to hospital.
He was on April 3, 2019, slapped with two counts of offence contrary to section 19 (b) (ii) as read with section 46 of the Intelligence and Security Service Act after he allegedly disclosed identities of secret agents.
He also allegedly obstructed officers and support staff, less than a year after President Mokgweetsi Masisi fired him.
Kgosi was granted bail on April 11 by Village Magistrate’s Court on various conditions, including that he should report to Broadhurst police once a month and appear in court on all dates set aside for the case.
However, Kgosi whose ill-health has been a subject of discussion before the court, seeks a variation of his bail conditions, as he is now unable to attend court sessions because he is in Malaysia on medical grounds.
He was scheduled to appear in court for status hearing on July 23, but will miss the date as he will still be in Malaysia where he is likely to return in December.
In the court papers seen by Mmegi, Kgosi says he has been experiencing serious and excruciating back pains since 2018.
The ailment has forced him to visit various physicians in Botswana and South Africa without any improvement. It’s this pain, he said, that has forced him to go overseas to see specialists.
“The purpose of this application is to seek a variation of the bail conditions imposed on me by this Honourable Court, in particular, the requirement that I should report to the police once every month.
I also seek permission of the court to be excused from attending a status hearing scheduled for 23 July 2019 and any future mentions on the basis that it has become impossible for me to attend Court on that date or any other date before December 2019 as I am undergoing medical treatment outside Botswana,” read the papers.
“The reasons for seeking such a variation are stated and I wish to emphasise, from the onset, that it has become necessary, expedient and urgent that I be granted the order I seek.”
He explained that while his lawyers have on several occasions communicated his condition to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, that doctors want him to remain in Malaysia until his (Kgosi) health stabilised, the prosecution has ignored the advice. Kgosi also argued that he should be granted the relief he is seeking since he has no intentions of deliberately disobeying the court and he has no reason to avoid trial as the charges against him are unfounded and clearly misplaced.
“My family business and business ventures are in Botswana and when I came here I did not make any arrangements for the upkeep of either as I had hoped and intended to be back in Botswana after a few days or weeks, at the most. Similarly, I have no reason to avoid trial, as the charges against me are clearly misplaced and completely unfounded.
The charges are vague and lack particularity necessary to disclose an offence. On the basis of the foregoing, the charges are baseless and unsustainable and as such I intend to meet them and without any fear,” he added.
He argued that the State suffers no prejudice as dates for trial could be set for December.