State calls for Masilo's ultimate punishment
Mpho Mokwape | Thursday May 2, 2019 14:31
Masilo, who was convicted last year for murdering St Joseph’s College student Tshepang Motlhabane in 2012, is awaiting sentencing set for June 20, 2019.
He is already serving sentences for other offences including robbery and rape.
State lawyer Kamogelo Maleke on Tuesday said when opposing Masilo’s submissions on extenuating circumstances that aggravating features outweigh any extenuating features and prayed for the ultimate sentence.
Maleke said the convict’s act of stabbing the deceased was motivated by evil on his part as he stabbed an innocent defenceless young woman who was unknown to him.
“He stabbed the deceased with a knife not once, but more than twice despite being taught by his mother to differentiate between what is right and wrong,” he said.
On the drugs and alcohol that the convict said he consumed on that fateful day, Maleke submitted that if indeed that was true, he should have stated that in his evidence in chief.
He questioned why Masilo was alleging drug use now when he had initially failed to disclose it, which indicted that it was just an afterthought.
However, Masilo’s lawyer wants the court to consider not imposing the death penalty.
Kgosietsile Ngakaagae, when making final submissions on extenuating circumstances, requested the court to consider Masilo’s upbringing and his state at the time of the murder.
Ngakaagae argued that Masilo had suffered impaired childhood development and faced challenges when growing up in the form of a hearing problem as well as taking long to respond when one engages him.
“It was a difficult childhood for him and at the time of the incident he was young. It is only fair for the court to find extenuating circumstance in the case,” he said.
He also submitted that the court considers that at the time Masilo committed the murder he was intoxicated as he had consumed alcohol and smoked dagga.
Ngakaagae prayed that the court finds appropriate sentence for the convict without being harsh, as it has been proven that indeed there were circumstances that impaired his thinking and judgement through his upbringing and on that fateful day.