Palapye magistrate lambasts lazy police officers
Lindiwe Mozola | Wednesday March 22, 2017 15:11
Motsamai said it is the same story everyday especially in murder cases, which move at a snail’s pace due to forensic delays. She attributed the delays to police officers’ laziness saying they drag their feet when attending such cases and accused persons suffer the most as their lives are put on hold.
“Most of the accused persons that are on bail do not reside in Palapye therefore they use a lot of money to travel here for nothing only because police officers decide to sleep on their job.
Furthermore, you refuse to allow us to dictate the pace at which cases are moved otherwise we will not be having all these unnecessary delays,” the visibly irritated Motsamai added.
She further wondered when the accused persons will have their own lives which seem to be at the mercy of the police by always reporting to court every month since there is no progress on their cases.
Motsamai made the accusation during a murder case which has been awaiting the postmortem results since November 2016.
In the case, it is alleged that Tsholofelo Seporeke murdered Linah Moloto between August 31, 2016 and September 1, 2016 at Mpeo ward in Lerala village. The accused is on bail.
During the proceedings, the presiding officer in the case Inspector Mpho Ntlhabane said they are still waiting for the photo album and the affidavit to be compiled by the Investigation officer.
However the magistrate said this could not take a long time because these are the photos taken at the crime scene, during and after the postmortem. “This surely cannot take a long time as exaggerated by the police. These are only photos taken at the crime scene, during and after postmortem,” Motsamai said.
In his response Ntlhabane said he assumes the delay is due to the fact that the album is assessed only in Gaborone therefore it takes time as the forensic laboratory deals with the whole of Botswana, which cannot be an easy job.
“Possibly they are short staffed and are overwhelmed by too much work as they cover the whole country hence causing the delay. It is beyond our control as police officers. All we can do is wait until they are done with compiling,” said the inspector.
Motsamai said taking into consideration the expenses accused incur every month for court sessions without any progress, the accused will report after 90 days.
“I am alive to Section 118 that accused should report every 30 days for status update but from the power vested in me I choose to violate the section hoping that after 90 days the police would have made progress on their cases,” ordered Motsamai.