Double rape, murder accused wants charges dropped

Lebogang Mosikare | Wednesday October 19, 2016 17:23

 

The state alleges that Omphile Koobone committed the rape incidents in Block 8, in 2012 and later in March 2013 he killed the victim’s mother, whilst on bail.  Koobone also allegedly raped his girlfriend again on July 10, 2012 while on bail for the first offence at the same area.

Opposing Koobone’s application for permanent stay of execution, chief prosecutor Gasemotho Pitlagano from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said the delay in trying the accused for the two counts of rape was occasioned by the fact that the state wanted to consolidate the rape cases and murder case before committing them to the High Court for trial.

“The delay was caused by the murder charge before the High Court and as such, the accused had to attend mentions before the court. On May 23, 2016 before the accused was committed to the High Court, it became apparent that the prosecutor who was initially handling the case omitted to include the two counts of rape in the file,î said Pitlagano.

Therefore, Pitlagano said, the state had to re-register the two counts of rape.

He continued: “The accused says that he was not tried within reasonable time. These cases are four years old and our constitution does not explicitly explain the timeframe of what reasonable time means. It depends on the circumstances that are obtaining on any given case. It has since been held that reasonable time is elastic and can accommodate many variables of the matter at hand”.

In this case, Pitlagano said, the rape offences had to wait for the conclusion of all process of the murder case before they could be brought before the High Court for trial.

He said he did not understand why the accused claimed that he was prejudiced by the delay to try him for rape charges within reasonable time. He argued that the court should weigh interests of the accused against that of the public. ìThe public expects alleged rape offenders to be tried for their actions and if found guilty sent to jail,” said Pitlagano.

Koobone later changed his position and said that his rape charges were withdrawn on September 23, 2012, but were re-registered this year.

Magistrate Kaveri Kapeko postponed ruling in the matter to November 29.