Rape Accused Duo Discharged , Acquitted

Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday June 18, 2018 13:41

 

Even though there was evidence that the victim was raped, her phone recovered from the suspects, Magistrate Genai Jansen found it inadequate to convict the duo.

According to her account, on March 29, 2014, the victim knocked off from work at Hungry Lion fried chicken outlet at the Gaborone bus rank, and went to her rented house in Mogoditshane, where upon arrival she went to bed.

In the wee hours of March 30, she felt somebody touching her tummy and body. She realised it was not her housemate. She got up and saw two men, a short one and a tall one.

The short one took her phone and stood by the door, while the tall one took off her pyjamas and inserted his manhood inside her vagina forcefully. Radipodi said the duo when they saw her roommate and her boyfriend approaching, they ran away. Together with the roommate and her boyfriend, they went to the police station to report, after which she was taken to the hospital.

According to the roommate’s account of events, she was sleeping with Radipodi when her boyfriend called and she left the house unlocked to attend to him.

She said while she was with the boyfriend in the combi he was driving, she saw two men pass by the combi and they greeted her boyfriend. She told the court that she knew one of them by his township name, Spiderman.  

She said as she sat with her boyfriend in the mini bus, the two men went into their house and her boyfriend asked who the men entering their house were. She said she told him she does not know and the boyfriend drove off, and upon their return they saw the two men fleeing.

During the court hearing, constable Magaga stated that they recovered the stolen phone from Kamogelo after Dikamo told them that he was with him.

Dikamo pleaded not guilty, stating that he was somewhere else when the incident happened. Kamogelo also denied raping or having been with Dikamo when the incident took place.

The medical doctor who gave evidence said seminal fluid was found in the victim during examination.

Delivering judgement, Jansen said for one to be convicted of rape, there should be proof that there was sexual activity without consent.

“The state failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt. The complainant said she did not know the men. She just said one was tall and the other short. She said her head was covered and there was no identity parade.

The magistrate also stated that the roommate “said she knew the first suspect as Spiderman and did not describe him. Also, there were items stolen in the house but there were no fingerprints collected nor footprints”.

Jansen further said the doctor did not record the time of the report and no DNA test was made to determine whether any of the suspects was the culprit.

The magistrate said the fact that the phone was recovered from one of the accused held no water as the charge sheet only contained rape and not robbery.

“The complainant said she was raped by one of the men and she is not sure who of them did it. There is no sufficient evidence to convict them. The State has failed to prove the charge of rape, therefore they are discharged and acquitted,” she said.