Fatal bar brawl earns man 15 years in jail
Lebogang Mosikare | Thursday August 17, 2017 11:19
Yesterday, Justice Zibani Makhwade jailed Thatayaone Morotsi for the 2014 crime, which took place at Equator Bar in Maunatlala.
According to the sentence, Morotsi killed Batsile Dihale after a misunderstanding during a spell of unrestrained alcohol drinking.
According to the medical report, the deceased was found near Equator Bar with head injuries adjacent to a stone with bloodstains.
The deceased, the medical report adds, succumbed to severe blunt force trauma to the head.
Passing sentence, Makhwade said the matter was a very serious offence.
“The court will not treat this matter lightly. It is in the interest of society that when persons are found guilty of murder, they should be sentenced appropriately. Such sentence should not be harsh and not too lenient,” Makhwade said.
The sentence, Makhwade explained, should send a strong message to the accused and society at large that such actions cannot be tolerated.
“The sentence should also be aimed at rehabilitating the offender and not breaking him.
The accused was 26-years-old at the time he committed the offence.
He is a first offender. The court is also mindful that the accused was under the influence of alcohol when he committed the offence.”
“He is therefore sentenced to 15 years in jail. His sentence should be backdated to the time he spent in jail before he was sentenced for this offence.
The accused has six weeks to appeal the sentence if he so wishes,” Makhwade said.
In a related matter, a 38-year-old man who murdered the mother of his two children with a knife in a fit of rage is due to know his sentence soon. Clifford Makhura, killed his girlfriend at Serorome ward in Palapye in 2013.
Makhura’s attorney Reneetswe Rabosotho pleaded with the court to be lenient with Makhura saying he was a first offender, had limited education and had been provoked by the deceased.
“We implore the court to pass a sentence that will allow the accused to return to society and continue being a useful member of society just like before he committed this offence,” Rabosotho said.
However, state attorney Gonayaone Ketlhapetswe said Makhura had a track record of abusing his girlfriend and had been carrying around a knife, which he eventually used to murder his victim.
“The deceased’s fate was already sealed the moment the accused left his place with a knife in his pocket before he went to the deceased’s place.
“The accused’s brazen behaviour was further displayed when he killed the deceased in broad day light in the presence of many members of society who begged him to reconsider his actions, but he did not heed their pleas,” the state prosecutor said.