Dagga possession lands couple in court

ISAIAH MOREWAGAE
Staff Writer | Tuesday August 24, 2010 00:00

Kgosi Monametsi warned Mary Moabi, 52, and her boyfriend Mponaphi Teemane, 56, to desist from trading in habit-forming drugs like dagga.

Moabi and Teemane were jointly charged for possessing dagga weighing over 85grams in December last year.However, Moabi was discharged because she is the one who alerted the police as to who owned the dagga found in a dustbin outside their house.

After Moabi was acquitted, Teemane was then ordered to pay P500 failing which he would be jailed for six months. Witnesses told the court that Teemane confessed when questioned by the police.

One of the investigating officers, Olebile Oboetse told the court that upon receiving a tip-off last December, they went to the couple's yard in Bontleng to investigate.

Oboetse said they did not find anything in the house but after they extended their search outside the house they found a green substance that looked like dagga wrapped in a blue plastic bag and stuffed in the dustbin.After retrieving the dagga they questioned Moabi about it.

'She denied ever possessing dagga but told them that it belonged to her boyfriend who was not at home then,' Oboetse said.

He added that they took the suspected dagga and Moabi to the police station where further questioning was done. 'We then recorded a statement from her and she signed the statement,' Oboetse said.

Oboetse further told the court that they dispatched two police officers to look for Teemane, who on arrival at the station confessed to dagga possession.

However, Teemane later denied confessing to possessing dagga.

He told the court that he made the confession only because the police had threatened to lock him up for a long time.

'These people are not telling the truth when they say I confessed to possessing dagga,' said Teemane.

Kgosi Monametsi warned Teemane saying, 'Possessing dagga is a serious offence and I am being lenient because you are an old man and if I send you to jail you are going to die there.

It's a pity that we are here trying such old people who should be the ones helping government in fighting substance abuse among the youth.'