Four dangerous escaped prison inmates appear in court

Dolly Bathobakae | Thursday January 19, 2017 09:54

The four are Mlindeli Moyo, who is charged with murder, Methuli Sibanda, who is facing a charge of unlawful possession of ivory, Sicelo Sibanda, who is charged with murder and Godwin Mapunganyi who is charged with murder and various counts of armed robbery.

When the accused made their appearance in court yesterday before magistrate Ishmael Molobe, prosecutor Kelebonye Matsapa told the court that the police arrested Mapunganyi on Tuesday around the Tutume area.

“All the accused persons entered Botswana through different ungazetted points and they are from Zimbabwe. Moyo, Sibanda (Methuli) and Mapunganyi have already been convicted of the charges they were facing at the High Court,” said Matsapa.

The investigating team, Matsapa said, is still looking for other 14 escapees who include three locals. “We plead with the court to remand the accused in custody in order to give the police time to arrest other escapees and to continue with their investigations.

We have hope that the investigations team is doing their job diligently and will soon arrest the other escaped prisoners,” said Matsapa. When asked to comment on what the prosecution said, Moyo admitted that he unlawfully escaped from jail. He said: “I did not resist arrest when I was arrested.

The police assaulted me after they arrested me. They assaulted all of us. Even from here the police are going to assault us. I am afraid of going back to jail.

The way the police treated me after my arrest, they could just as well kill me at once.” On the other had, Sibanda (Methuli) told the court that the reason why he escaped from custody is because he was ill-treated in jail while Sibanda (Sicelo) told the court that he had nothing to say.

Mapungayi pleaded with the court to order the prosecution and prison officials to take him to hospital for medical treatment because he was tortured. In response to what the accused said, Matsapa said he will enquire if what Mapungayi said was the truth.

After the accused responded to what the prosecution said, magistrate Ishmael Molobe told the accused that escaping from jail is an offence that should not be tolerated at all costs. “In Botswana you cannot run away from the law forever.

The police will always find you even if it is after some years. By escaping from jail, you are putting your own lives and the lives of other citizens in danger because there is a high possibility that you will commit other offences while still on the run.

The security forces have a duty to protect innocent citizens from people like you. They will do anything to protect citizens as well as their jobs,” said Molobe.

He added that the job security of some prison officers is now under serious jeopardy because of the prison escape. At the end of the mention, Molobe refused that the prison escapees be taken to hospital for medical attention. The escapees are due in court on February 2 for another mention.