State appeals Patlakwe acquittal

ISAIAH MOREWAGAE
Staff Writer | Tuesday March 23, 2010 00:00

The appeal, before Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo, was due to commence last Friday but had to be postponed as the Chief Justice had not read the record from the magistrate who acquitted Patlakwe. It has now been scheduled for May 10.

Former radio and television personality Patlakwe, who is now employed with the Public Enterprises Evaluation and Privatisation Agency (PEEPA) was discharged and acquitted on a single count of defilement by then Village magistrate Olivia Zvide. Patlakwe was accused of raping a 16-year-old girl at Lamila Lodge in Mogoditshane. He had offered the girl a lift from Mankgodi to Gaborone.

In acquitting Patlakwe, Magistrate Zvide found that the prosecution had failed to prove its case. She said the contentious issue was whether or not sexual intercourse had taken place between Patlakwe and the young girl at Lamila Lodge.

She said the evidence in the case hung on a balance of probabilities as both the prosecution and defence stories could be believed. The magistrate also found that the forensic evidence presented by the prosecution did not support that sexual intercourse had occured. Zvide said while the young girl maintained that she was raped, the forensic evidence placed before the court could not be relied upon, because it did not prove that sexual intercourse took place between her and Patlakwe.